FORT COLLINS — Colorado State’s losing streak reached four games Tuesday night as the Rams’ late rally fell short in a 83-71 loss to UNLV at Moby Arena.

The loss was also the Rams’ ninth in their last 11 games as they fell to 10-13 overall and 2-8 in the Mountain West Conference.

CSU trailed for all but the first few minutes in the contest and UNLV built a double-digit lead in the second half that was too much for the Rams to overcome. The Rams did make one last run in the game’s final three minutes, but couldn’t complete the comeback after being down by 22 early in the second half.

The game was a stark contrast to the teams’ previous meeting in Las Vegas, where CSU’s Isaiah Stevens banked in a deep 3-pointer to force overtime and then hit the game-winner in the extra period.

Tuesday, the Rams were in the game for most of the first half despite making only 10 of 25 shots in the opening 20 minutes. They scored the game’s first six points over the first two and a half minutes, before UNLV settled in.

Over the next six and a half minutes, the Runnin’ Rebels went on a 22-4 run and led 22-10 with 11:04 left in the first half. CSU slowly chipped away at its deficit and trailed by just one a couple of times before a 13-5 UNLV surge brought the score to 39-30 at the break.

It didn’t get much better for the Rams in the second half. In fact, the game really got away from them.

UNLV scored the first five points of the half and CSU never got closer than eight points, at 75-67 with 1:39 left.

Isaiah Stevens led the Rams with 18 points. Patrick Cartier, Isaiah Rivera and John Tonje each had 17.

CSU will be back in action Saturday when the Rams host Utah State at 6 p.m. at Moby Arena.

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