Rams Advance to Alaska Shootout Finals

In the semi-finals of the Great Alaska Shootout, the 4-0 Colorado State Rams met up against the 3-2 Pacific Tigers in Anchorage on Friday night. After jumping out to a 17 point halftime lead, the Rams struggled offensively in the second half and allowed the Tigers to fight back to within nine points before the Rams closed out the game with a 75-64 victory.

After having difficulty scoring from the field in the first round game of the tournament against Missouri State, Ram's leading scorers Daniel Bejarano and Stanton Kidd got back on track as Bejarano scored 14 points and Kidd scored 13 points. J.J. Avila, who is coming off of his first double-double of the season, led the Rams with 16 points and six rebounds. Avila left ten points on the board shooting a poor 4-14 from the free throw line, the worst mark of his career as a Ram.

The Rams had five guys in double figures, with Bejarano, Kidd and Avila, as well as getting 11 points from Joe De Ciman and 13 points from backup guard Gian Clavell. The Tigers were led by Delani Robinson who led all scorers with 26 points, going 7-10 from long range as Pacific was attempting a second half comeback.

Colorado State struggled from the charity stripe against the Tigers, shooting 19-33 for 57.6 percent. After shooting a fantastic 28-33 two nights ago which helped them pull away from Missouri State, the Ram's inability to take advantage of Pacific's 26 fouls kept it a much closer game than it should have been.

With the win, the Rams move to 5-0 on the season. They have advanced to the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout where they will either have a rematch against the Mercer Bears or they will play the California Santa Barbara Gauchos. The game can be found on CBS Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. MST. With a win, Colorado State will get out to a 6-0 start for the second time in three seasons.