FORT COLLINS — This is the Deion James that Colorado State has been waiting for, the one that was named the NCJAA Division II player of the year last season.

James has been solid to start his CSU career but on Tuesday night he was fantastic, scoring 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds to lead the Rams to an 87-73 victory over visiting Arkansas-Fort Smith.

James has been the team’s most efficient scorer this season and continued that trend Tuesday, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor to top his previous season best by eight points despite fouling out in 27 minutes.

“Every time there’s a new game, I’m getting more comfortable,” said James, who nearly averaged a double-double last season at Pima Community College. “My teammates are helping me get comfortable, so I can just thank them. My game’s just going to keep improving from here.”

Junior college transfers tend to take about a semester to adjust to playing at the next level, according to CSU assistant coach Steve Barnes, who was filling in for head coach Larry Eustachy at the post-game press conference. That certainly seems to be the case with James, who had his way in the post to reach double figures for the first time this month.

“The speed is a little different, just the tempo, and the bodies are bigger as well,” he said. “I’m adjusting to that. But as time goes, it’s getting better.”

The Rams (6-6) have handled the Division II Lions pretty easily the past three years, but not this time. In fact, if it weren’t for the performance by James, CSU would’ve likely faced a decent-sized deficit.

One of the top-ranked DII teams in the country with plenty of Division I players on its roster, UAFS hung around for most of the night. The Lions had multiple leads in the second half and were with two possessions with five minutes to go before the Rams went on a 10-0 run to put it away.

Prentiss Nixon hit back-to-back shots from the perimeter during the decisive stretch, finishing as one of four Rams in double figures with 17 points. J.D. Paige added 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Anthony Bonner had 12 to score in double figures for the second straight game.

“Deion was 8 for 12, and most of those were around the rim. So when he’s doing things like that, people start to dig, and we keep moving and cutting, it opens it up for everybody else to score,” Nixon said.

Turnovers have been an issue for the Rams often this year, but not Tuesday. Instead it was CSU converting 17 UAFS turnovers into 19 points. The Rams also moved the ball well offensively to match a season-best with 18 assists, including four apiece by Paige and Che Bob.

“We had 10 days of practice with finals and everything,” Barnes said. “We worked real hard on playing really hard in these practices, denying and pressuring, much like Arkansas and some other people have been playing against us. So I think that actually helped our offense in practice, because it made us move more.”

The Rams played some of their best offense all season for stretches in the first half to build an 11-point lead. But they were vulnerable on the perimeter defensively, allowing the Lions to shoot 7 of 15 from behind in the arc to make it a 42-39 game at the break.

Arkansas-Fort Smith (12-0), which was playing the game as an exhibition, cooled off and went 4 of 14 from 3 in the second half. The Lions finished shooting 44.3 percent from the field, showing that CSU still has yet to put together a complete game on both ends on a night where the offense posted a season high.

“I don’t think we’ve had a game yet where both halves were just flat-out amazing,” Nixon said. “We’ve played in spurts, 10 minutes, 12 minutes, one half here, one half there. But, we’re still looking for that one game where everything just falls in place.”

CSU will look for that complete effort at home Saturday against a Long Beach State team that it has lost two each of the past two seasons.

Sean Star: sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar