John Tonje guides CSU basketball to season-opening blowout over Oral Roberts

FORT COLLINS –– After falling two at-large invitations short of reaching the NCAA Tournament last season, the Colorado State men’s basketball team took its 2021-22 nonconference schedule upon itself.

Rather than half-heartedly filling its pre-Mountain West slate with seemingly trivial opponents, fourth-year coach Niko Medved crammed the campaign’s early stages with resume-building opportunities.

This way, if push comes to shove with the selection committee this time around, the Rams will presumably own better chances of winding up on the right side of the March Madness bubble. Well, that’s assuming CSU takes advantage of said marquee matchups.

Time will tell how the Rams indeed fare against the likes of Saint Mary’s, Mississippi State and current No. 14 ranked Alabama among other daunting foes. However, for now, the green and gold can joyfully claim it got off on the right foot after defeating Oral Roberts 109-80 on Tuesday evening at Moby Arena.

“It started with just the electric atmosphere in Moby tonight,” Medved said. “That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about since we got here. The vision –– students turning out, people on their feet cheering. These guys got a glimpse of that tonight. And then they just delivered a great performance. It would be hard for me to ask for more from these guys.”

ORU traveled to Fort Collins for each program’s campaign opener fresh off a dark horse venture into last year’s Sweet 16 –– besting No. 2 Ohio State in an attention-grabbing first-round upset before also bouncing No. 7 Florida as a No. 15 seed.

Despite losing top rebounder/second-leading scorer Kevin Obanor among several starters, the Golden Eagles still enter the fresh season as the projected runner-up in the Summit League –– which relates to sharp-shooting guard Max Abmas’ highly anticipated return.

A preseason first-team All-American (by Sporting News), Abmas led the nation in scoring (24.5 points per game) while shooting 42.9% from 3-point range over the coronavirus-shortened campaign. And on Tuesday, despite an uncharacteristically poor effort from the floor, the junior managed to make his presence known while accruing 20 points.

Nevertheless, guided by junior guard John Tonje’s compelling display, the Rams prevailed past their Summit League adversary rather effortlessly ahead of a nearly sold-out crowd.

“You see a guy like (Tonje) who works so hard,” Medved said. “He’s gotten stronger. He takes a lot of pride in getting better. We see it in practice every day. You’ve got to understand, him and David Roddy guard each other in practice every day. So if you can do it against him, you can do it against anybody at this level in my opinion. I think it’s something we see in him at practice every day and it just happened to show up here tonight. He’s a really, really difficult match-up.”

During a first half in which CSU proved poised but struggled to pull away, Tonje kept the hosts’ heads above water upon accumulating a contest-most 18 points off 5-of-8 shooting. And he was nowhere near finished.

After notching a career-best in scoring over the opening 20 minutes, Tonje commenced the final fragment in similarly red-hot fashion while helping CSU extend its edge into comfortable territory.

Specifically, highlighted by a nifty head-fake and score in the paint, the sharp-shooting junior knocked down four consecutive shots over the second half’s first six minutes –– stretching the Rams’ advantage from 50-43 at half to 70-52 by the 13-minute mark.

In total, Tonje nailed 10-of-14 shots for 31 points, 13 of which occurred over a second half where CSU seamlessly broke the game open.

“I was just trying to stay consistent and not get caught up because we were only up seven (at halftime),” Tonje said. “So I wanted to come out aggressive again and try to secure a win.”

To say the least, after averaging 6.6 points per game as a sophomore, Tonje felt his shot to a new degree on Tuesday.

“Probably (in high school) at Omaha-Central,” Tonje responded when asked about the last time he’s found a similar rhythm. “I feel like my teammates and coaches gave me confidence today. We went with the smaller (lineup) for defensive reasons. But I feel like things really opened up offensively.”

Though Tonje undoubtedly stole the season-opening show, Medved’s team enjoyed plenty of offensive balance elsewhere while outshooting a Golden Eagles squad that averaged 82 points per night last year (10th in the NCAA).

Overall, the Rams converted at a 58.9% clip from the floor as forward Dischon Thomas added his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Additionally, Isaiah Stevens posted 13 points while Division II transfer Chandler Jacobs enjoyed an effective CSU debut –– nailing 6-of-6 field goals for 15 points.

After dashing past Oral Roberts with a lights-out second half, CSU welcomes Arkansas-Pine Bluff to Moby Arena on Friday evening for an 8 p.m. tip-off.

“Not every game’s gonna be like this,” Medved said. “It was just one of those nights where everything started to go our way. But I thought it was just great to see everybody perform the way that they did. I think it speaks to the depth and character of our team. David (Roddy) and Isaiah (Stevens) get a ton of shine. And they should, they’re great players. But if you think about it, tonight, it was a lot of the other guys. And that just to me is encouraging for a team. Hopefully, that really builds confidence in everyone moving forward.”