CSU basketball loses in overtime after being stunned by half-court shot to end regulation

A stunning halfcourt shot to force overtime and then two missed chances late in overtime.

Those will be the core memories leftover from Friday night at Moby Arena for the Colorado State men’s basketball team in a 77-75 OT loss to UC Riverside.

“That’s a game we had to find a way to win and we weren’t able to do that,” CSU coach Niko Medved said.

Here are three takeaways.

How overtime was forced hauntingly familiar

CSU (3-2) led 65-62 after a Jalen Lake 3-point put the Rams up with 3.1 seconds to go.

“Always foul up three” is a commonly used phrase in the basketball world in this situation, but the Rams didn’t foul.

UC Riverside guard Barrington Hargress dribbled up court, pulled up just past midcourt and banked in a 3-pointer.

It was reminiscent of former Nevada star Jarod Lucas hitting a similar shot to beat CSU last year. CSU also allowed a 3-pointer in a similar situation earlier this season to Tennessee State (the Rams won that overtime).

CSU not fouling and allowing Hargress momentum into the shot will haunt the Rams.

“We wanted to foul,” Medved said. “The plan was to foul.”

Medved said the plan was to pressure the in-bound (Hargress in-bounded and then received a quick pass back) and then foul, unless UC Riverside connected on a deep-ball pass where it could be a catch-and-shoot situation.

Lake didn’t close on Hargress to foul before the shot.

“I felt like I was kind of farther away and maybe I could have pressured a little bit more to try to contest or maybe foul him, but just kind of let him shoot it and it went in,” Lake said. “It was a tough one.”

Missed chances late in overtime

UC Riverside (3-3) looked set to run away at one point in overtime as the visitors took a 72-67 lead with less than a minute to go.

Then CSU fought back with 3-pointers from Jaylen Crocker-Johnson and Nique Clifford.

Missed UC Riverside free throws with 13 gave the Rams a golden chance to win, but Clifford turned the ball over on a loose dribble.

Still, a chance was still…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/csu-basketball-loses-overtime-being-054238287.html

Author : The Coloradoan

Publish date : 2024-11-23 05:42:00

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