FORT COLLINS — The Ali Farokhmanesh era for Colorado State men’s basketball got off to a victorious start Monday night.

The first-year head coach, however a longtime assistant, guided the Rams to a 98-64 victory over Incarnate Word at Moby Arena.

Junior guard Brandon Rechsteiner scored 19 points to lead five Rams in double figures in the wire-to-wire, season-opening win for CSU.

The Rams jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead punctuated by the first 3-pointer of the season for CSU from Carey Booth less than two minutes into the game.

CSU led the entire first half. The closest the Cardinals got was 15-13 with 11:08 left before halftime. The Rams scored the next five points, all by Jase Butler to go ahead by seven at 20-13 at the midpoint of the opening period.

The Rams’ largest lead of the fir

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