David Roddy scored a game-high 36 points and Isaiah Stevens added a double-double with 17 points and 11 assists Sunday to lead Colorado State to a 95-81 victory over Creighton in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
The Rams (5-0) advanced to play the winner of the other semifinal between Northeastern (2-2) or Southern Illinois (2-1) in the championship game on Monday night, while the Bluejays (4-1) will play in the third-place game earlier Monday.
On Sunday, Dischon Thomas posted 21 points and John Tonje added six for Colorado State, which shot 35-for-66 (53 percent) from the floor and was even better from 3-point range, shooting 58.8 percent (20-for-34). The Rams had 23 assists on 35 field goals, as Kendle Moore and Roddy each had three assists.
Arthur Kaluma had a team-high 16 points for the Bluejays, who had four scorers in double figures, including Ryan Nembhard with 15, and Ryan Kalkbrenner and Ryan Hawkins with 13 apiece.
With the score tied at 52 with just under 15 minutes left, the Rams made a 23-9 run to take a 75-61 lead on Adam Thistlewood’s 3-pointer with 8:14 remaining. The Bluejays didn’t get within single digits the rest of the game.
Hot 3-point shooting enabled Colorado State to lead 42-36 at the break. Roddy went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc en route to scoring 21 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Creighton went just 3-for-14 from 3-point range in the half and 7-for-22 for the game.
–Field Level Media
