Josh Pascarelli scored 28 points to lead Colorado State to an 83-68 victory over South Florida in the fifth-place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament Friday in The Bahamas.
Pascarelli’s big night featured 10-for-11 shooting from the floor, including 8-for-8 from behind the 3-point line. CSU pulled away in the second half, scoring 50 points on 78.3% shooting.
Rams finished the tournament with a 2-1 record and are now 6-2 on the season ahead of next Saturday’s showdown with CU at Moby Arena.
CSU got off to a hot start against the Bulls, scoring its first 12 points on 3-pointers while building a 12-9 lead. The Rams’ largest lead of the first half was nine points, at 25-16, after a Pascarelli 3 with 4:28 remaining before halftime.
The Rams led 33-29 at the break.
South Florida got within two points of the Rams early in the second half after a 3-pointer cut the CSU lead to 37-35 with 18:20 left in the game. A four-point play by South Florida pulled the Bulls within three at 50-47 with 13:42 remaining.
From there, the Rams got hot, going on a 14-0 run to go ahead 64-47 with 10:51 left to play. With 4:23 on the clock, CSU took its largest lead of the game of 24 points, 77-53, after a 3-pointer by Brandon Rechsteiner.
The Bulls were able cut into the Rams’ lead a little in the closing minutes, but CSU never let South Florida get closer than 14 points.
In addition to Pascarelli’s 28 points, Carey Booth added 16 and Jase Butler added 11. Jevin Muniz had seven points, six rebounds and 10 assists.
Now the Rams have a week off from competition before next Saturday’s game against the Buffs that tips off at 3 p.m. at Moby Arena.