If you hang around Niko Medved long enough – about 5 minutes should suffice – you'll pick up a few of his key catch phrases.

Basketball is a game of runs. He's not the first to say it.

Like the 3, love the paint is probably more popular with him, and his Colorado State men's basketball team adhered to both mantras as Mountain West play opened Tuesday night at Moby Arena. The Rams had runs and didn't give up any of real substance. Against physical New Mexico posts, the Rams held a scoring and rebounding edge as No. 13 CSU posted a 76-68 victory.

Stick to the rules and most night things will work out.

"We started with transition and rebounding, and I thought we did those pretty well. We also talked a lot about some of our best defense is how we're going to play offense; not turning the ball over, not allowing them to speed us up," Medved said, his team now 13-1 overall. We took the bait a few times that way, and it's a fine line because you want your guys to be aggressive, but at the same time you don't want them to get sped up or play reckless.

"I thought we did a great job of showing our poise throughout the game. We didn't allow any big runs. We stayed with it, and we have a group that understands that."

The Lobos gave their best shot right out of the gate with a 5-0 spurt in the first minute and a half. For more than 38 minutes, Colorado State kept an explosive offensive in check. The Rams countered with a 10-0 run in the first half to put them in front, where they stayed for the remainder of the game.

They had another 10-0 run in the second half, followed up by a 9-0 run as the Rams amassed a 17-point margin with 7:31 remaining in the game.

"We talked about it in prep. Some of our best defense is going to be quality offense and understanding that we can play late in the shot clock and execute that way," guard Isaiah Stevens said. "Taking care of the basketball, though we had a decent amount of turnovers, but in crucial situations, I felt we were really sharp."

The big lead was crucial, as New Mexico (12-2, 0-1) made a bit of a push down the stretch behind the usual suspects. The Lobos' talented guard trio of Jaelen House (14 points), Donovan Dent (10) and Jamal Mashburn Jr. (13) would eventually get their in a too-little, too-late scenario.

The Rams kept in front in large part due to their ability to control what was happening in the paint.

The scoring margin was slight – 32-26 – paced by a game-best 21 points from Patrick Cartier, who did do his normal damage outside with a pair of 3s. The rebounding edge – 38-29 – was more impressive as Nique Clifford pulled down 10 for his third double-double of the season to go with his 12 points.

Stevens was proud to hit the 2,000-point milestone with a first-half and-1 – he quipped he wished he already had, but that's a conversation between him and coach after being pulled early in a win over Adams State. He did drop in 18 to go with his eight assists, and Joel Scott, who had seven boards, scored 10 to give the Rams a quad in double figures.

The constant all night was Cartier.

"We're looking to play through him a lot in our offense. He makes a lot of decisions for us, and more times than not, he's making the right one," Stevens said. "He can finish, can shoot the 3 and has a great feel for when to get off of it. As of tonight, I think he was the catalyst to see us through, especially in the first half."

Neither team had much help off the bench scoring wise, but that wasn't the case for Colorado State defensively. Medved loved the efforts of Rashaan Mbemba, Taviontae Jackson and Kyan Evans off the bench.

For a roughly 3-minute spell, Medved had them all on the floor as Stevens sat, Clifford the only starter with them, and the Rams were able to push the lead forward.

"It's awesome. Tavi came in and got his hands on some balls, Rashaan, Kyan made some really good plays that way," Medved said. "You never want injuries or anything, but again, those minutes all those guys got and in some tough games prepared them for this moment."

Which was a big one, being it was the conference opener. Being highly ranked, the Rams are expecting a magical season, and they didn't want it to open on a sour note.

"We know it's a new season. We have a lot of guys that it might be their first time stepping into this, and you understand the Mountain West is extremely deep this year," Stevens said. "Being able to protect Moby, which is what we say all the time, especially to start conference play, is just huge for us."

And sticking to their roots is never a bad a bad course of action.