Kelly Lyell

kellylyell@coloradoan.com

There was a point last year where Emmanuel Omogbo couldn't go on.

It was two days after his parents, niece and nephew died in a house fire in Maryland and he was trying to battle through it in a game against Air Force. He didn't play well — 1 point and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes — and when he started arguing calls with officials, coach Larry Eustachy benched him. It was then — finally then — that the tears he'd been holding in came out, and sitting next to him on the bench was point guard Prentiss Nixon, who grabbed Omogbo by the head and embraced him.

Soon, the rest of his CSU teammates followed, and it was clear then that the bond the Rams had was unique beyond the average group of players on a college basketball roster. And since that day 13 months ago, the glue that's kept Colorado State University not only afloat, but in contention for a Mountain West championship, has been a reliance on an unlikely family.

Not only for Omogbo, but fellow senior Gian Clavell, too.

Nobody would have blamed Omogbo had he transferred to a school closer to home this past offseason.

Or Clavell, had he decided to follow the paths of former CSU basketball players Jon Octeus and John Gillon to seek the exposure of a high-profile program as a graduate transfer for his senior year.

The two seniors, though, couldn't do it.

Not to their teammates. Or their coach. Or CSU fans. Not even the families they would have been coming home to.

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Omogbo's parents taught him the importance of "doing everything together as a family and not letting anybody come between us."

CSU's basketball team is as much of a family to him now as his four sisters and three brothers. His coach, Larry Eustachy, and teammates were there for him in his time of need, and he wanted to make sure he was here for them.

"I didn't want to leave anybody hanging, because my parents always told me to go hard for people who put their name on the line for you, who would do things for you, and I felt like (Eustachy) already showed me that he could do stuff for me, so why wouldn't I put my name on the line," Omogbo said.

That kind of loyalty kept Clavell in Fort Collins for another year, too. He's developed "a special bond" with Eustachy, so he never pursued the opportunities he heard were available for him to finish up at the University of Miami, where his parents live, or dozens of other high-profile programs, after missing most of last season with shoulder and hand injuries.

"Every time I thought about it, I thought about Coach," Clavell said. "I said you know what, 'No, no, no.' I kept shutting it down."

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College basketball careers don't last forever, though. So Clavell and Omogbo, the top two scorers and rebounders on a CSU team that is battling for a Mountain West title with two games remaining, will play their final home game at Moby Arena on Tuesday night, when the Rams (20-9, 12-4 MW) host Wyoming (17-12, 7-9).

They know they'll get emotional during pregame ceremonies with family members joining them on the court. And it's not just the fact they're about to leave college; they're preparing to leave a team that has become a second family. The usual bonds a basketball team forms became a lot tighter while Omogbo was dealing with his family tragedy.

"That definitely brought everybody closer," sophomore guard J.D. Paige said. "Everybody started looking at life in a different perspective. You don't take these moments for granted."

Omogbo and his family don't take anything for granted anymore.

It's why two of his sisters who are in town for Tuesday night's game said they were so pleased to see Eustachy and his wife, Lana, take their brother under their wings to care for him after the fire Jan 19, 2016, at the family home in Chillum, Maryland. They're pleased he came back to CSU for his senior year instead of accepting opportunities he had to transfer Maryland or Temple under the NCAA's family hardship waiver.

They miss their little brother and talk to him every day. But they believe he's where he belongs.

"Mr. Eustachy, the coach, is just like a father," Ruth Omogbo said. "He's doing good for Emmanuel, and Miss Lana, she's doing good. They took Emmanuel as their son, and we the family of Omogbo really do appreciate everything they do."

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Said Christiana Omogbo: "Emmanuel's in their hands, and I feel safe with that."

He's with his basketball family. A group that has grown so close that all eight players on the active roster crowded together at one circular table, designed to seat five, for a team meal on a road trip last week at New Mexico.

Three other tables in the room sat empty. Nobody wanted to eat on their own and leave the family behind.

Clavell, who is originally from Puerto Rico, and Omogbo, who was born in Nigeria, are the team's only seniors and, clearly, the leaders on the floor. But they described their roles in the family more like the fun uncles rather than the dads. They're serious when they need to be but aren't afraid to let their goofy sides show.

"Braiden (Koelliker) is the father; he's the married one," Omogbo said. "He's the one that doesn't hang out with us on weekends. We're like the two uncles. KJ (Kimani Jackson) is like the nephew, Che (Bob), he's gone from like the oldest to the youngest. Dube (Devocio Butler) is a kid, AB (Anthony Bonner) and Dube are like two kids. Prentiss (Nixon) is the big brother, and Nico (Carvacho) is like the cousin."

So where does Eustachy fit in?

"I'm just along for the ride," the coach said, laughing.

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And what a ride it's been.

CSU has won six straight games and nine of its last 10. The Rams are tied with Nevada (23-6, 12-4) for first place in the Mountain West standings and close out the regular-season against the Wolf Pack on Saturday in Reno.

They overcame the absence of Clavell for the first nine games of the season, while he was serving a suspension for an arrest on a misdemeanor charge that has since been dismissed. They lost three players — Jackson, Bob and Butler — to academic ineligibility at the start of the spring semester. They responded to a published report two weeks ago that former athletic director Jack Graham, who hired Eustachy, recommended the coach be fired near the end of the 2013-14 season for "creating a culture of fear and intimidation" emotionally abusing players and staff members, by hugging the coach and carrying him around to show their support in a video taken by a staff member and briefly posted on social media after the team's next practice.

People outside the program don't see all the highs and lows a program goes through during the course of a season or how much "blood, sweat and tears" goes into the player-coach relationship. They don't see the brotherly bonds these players have formed with one another and the coaching staff.

They only see what the team does on game days. The effort they put into each game and whether or not they win or lose.

"A team doesn't play as hard as we play if they don't believe in the player with the least amount of ability all the way up to the head coach," Eustachy said. "There's a lot of belief on a team that has done what we have done."

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news

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Next up

Wyoming at CSU, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Moby Arena

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Twitter updates: @KellyLyell