Niko Medved's Rams didn't lead the entire second half against UNLV until there was 2:35 left on the clock. Patrick Cartier didn't hit one of his signature top-of-the-key 3s until just 2:05 remained to push that lead to four, which would turn out to be insurmountable for the Runnin' Rebels.

For Medved and his 15-3 (3-2 Mountain West) team, better late than never.

"I tell people, 'guys, it's gonna be like this the rest of the year,' these close games that are going to come down to the last four or five minutes," Medved said. "We've got some guys who are battle tested, I think we did that with our non conference schedule. We've got guys who've been through the wars before, and I think they embrace it, and these last two wins were huge for us."

The Rams' 78-75 victory over UNLV, their first over the Runnin' Rebels at Moby Arena since 2020, came with the help of a pinpoint precision in the game of Isaiah Stevens. Down 10 at one point in the second half, he orchestrated the comeback with high-level assists and timely 3-pointers on the way to finishing with 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Joel Scott was on the receiving end of two such passes from Stevens, which left him wide open on the block after Stevens somehow fit the ball between multiple defenders on two straight drives. One was an easy layup. The next, a dunk.

In the moment, Stevens scored a tough finish at the basket, Scott another easy layup on a nice feed from Cartier, to take the 10-point deficit all the way down to two. The Rams gave themselves a chance, masterminded by another instance of…

Zay mode?

"It is a classic example, but this is night in and night out," Scott said of his point guard. "I want to say you get used to it, but that's kind of what you expect from him. He comes in and does what he needs to do on offense and defense. He's always in the right spot doing what he needs to do, making plays for others. So it's really fun to be a part of and to be his teammate."

A tie ballgame with just less than three minutes to go, Stevens hit a 3 to take the Rams' first lead since 13:00 left in the first half. UNLV responded with a tough layup, but Cartier pushed it to two possessions with a 3 of his own — his first of the game after missing four others. When the ball struck nylon, he threw his arms and eyes up as if to say "finally." Not just to his perimeter shotmaking, but to what at the time was the Rams' most comfortable lead of the half.

CSU struggled at times to get inside for good looks during the first half, only heading to the line once for an and-1 which Cartier completed. Not to say it couldn't get quality looks elsewhere, but not much was falling.

Medved was pleased with the way his team played the first half and didn't say much at halftime of the interior offense other than "playing off of two feet," being stronger and cutting off the ball more.

"I think it was just staying with it. We were coming back to all these timeouts and all these tight huddles we had with each other and we were super pleased with the shots we were getting," Stevens said. "We've been talking so much about finding our rhythm and finding our groove, trusting offense, trusting the flow, and I felt like we did that for all 40 minutes, outside of a few possessions here and there, but that's basketball."

Those insights alone resulted in Stevens' momentum-shifting dimes and 15 more free throw attempts as a team. Once shots from similar looks as the first half started falling more, it became CSU's game to lose with just two minutes to go.

In front of Moby's second sellout of the season — and a record student turnout of 4,410 which created a sea of orange — the Rams will take what they can get, especially in a turbulent conference in which every win is valuable.

They'll take that mindset to Reno to take on Nevada Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

"We know every night is gonna be a battle. It's not like we're coming into any game and thinking it's gonna be an easy one," Scott said. "I mean, every night is going to be hard fought and we're going to have to grit it out and tough it out every time. It's a fun league to be a part of and I'm glad we're here."