No. 23 Colorado State basketball thumps Air Force for Rams' best 16-game start ever

AIR FORCE ACADEMY — It's a difficult, frustrating style of basketball to play against.

The No. 23-ranked Colorado State men's basketball team has to change some of what it does when facing Air Force and its slow Princeton offense.

It's a difficult but necessary adjustment, and not every Mountain West team successfully handles it.

CSU did so twice this season. The Rams beat Air Force 73-53 on Saturday afternoon, handing the Falcons just their second loss at Clune Arena this season.

There was an announced crowd of 2,579 and Air Force is barely averaging 1,000 per game. An influx of CSU fans made up at least half the crowd.

Here are three thoughts on the game.

CSU set itself up early

The first 10 minutes were a typical game against Air Force. Slow, plodding and ugly. And this one had plenty of bad shooting from both teams to go with it.

CSU was leading most of the way, but with 6:51 left in the first half Air Force cut the lead to one at 16-15.

Then CSU took over. David Roddy and Isaiah Rivera hit 3-pointers to start the surge and by halftime the Rams were on a 15-2 run and held a 14-point lead.

"Going into halftime on a run is probably one of the better feelings in college basketball because you just have the confidence and the energy is really high," CSU guard Isaiah Stevens said.

Air Force (9-8, 2-4 Mountain West) found some offense in the second half, led by Jake Heidbreder’s 3-point shooting but the Rams stayed in control. It was never closer than an 11-point game in the final 20 minutes.

CSU responded every time the Falcons looked like they would make a run and the depth shined. Chandler Jacobs started in place of an injured Adam Thistlewood, but the bench still produced more than enough.

John Tonje scored 15 points, while Rivera scored eight and grabbed six rebounds. Kendle Moore added nine points in one of his best games of the season.

Isaiah Stevens was his usual exceptional self, scoring 18 points on 8-10 shooting.

“I thought Isaiah Rivera was great off the bench. I thought John Tonje was great off the bench. Isaiah Stevens was awesome," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "That’s another question with, unfortunately Adam being out, our depth really showing up."

The Rams held Air Force to 21% shooting in the first half and 33% for the game.

"We expected a close game, but the reason we won the way we did is our guys played like that," Medved said. "They expected it to be close for 40 minutes and I thought that is how they played."

David Roddy’s dunk, superstar game

Air Force’s 6-foot-10 freshman Lucas Moerman had a decision to make. Try and jump in front of a freight train or safely duck to safety?

He made a business decision, bailing out as Roddy thundered down the lane for one of the best in-game dunks in years for the Rams. Not the type of flyover you usually see in a game at Air Force.

Early in the second half with CSU holding a healthy double-digit lead, the Rams raced out on a fastbreak. Isaiah Stevens had the ball on the wing and flipped a pass to Roddy and everyone in Clune Arena could see he intended to dunk.

Dunk he did, with authority in a move that lit up nationally in the college basketball Twitter world. Roddy did a lot of things well for CSU on the day, but that play may have been the highlight of the season.

One of his best-ever dunks?

"I would say so, especially in college because I don’t really get a chance to get a full head of steam," Roddy said.

It was more than just the dunk, though. This game showed off Roddy's whole arsenal.

He hit both 3-point attempts, scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out three assists.

Best start in program history

This is the best 16-game start in CSU men’s basketball history with a 15-1 record (5-1 Mountain West).

The 2014-15 team was 14-2 after 16 games.

The Rams have now won four games in a row following their first loss of the season at San Diego State in early January.

CSU’s next game is 7 p.m. Tuesday at Moby Arena against Nevada.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: No. 23 CSU basketball thumps Air Force for Rams' best 16-game start ever