FORT COLLINS — What was once just a vision for Ali Farokhmanesh is finally turning into reality.

When the first-year Colorado State coach built this team last offseason, he envisioned one that would get better as the season wore on and play its best basketball as March neared. That’s exactly what his Rams (17-10, 8-8 Mountain West) have done, winning five straight after a rough start to conference play, capped off by Saturday’s 83-74 win over San Diego State (18-8, 12-4) in front of more than 7,000 fans all decked out in orange at Moby Arena.

“They easily could’ve gone a different direction, especially when you have seven new guys out of nine in your rotation that haven’t been here before,” Farokhmanesh said. “You lose a few games, you start to question, does this really work? Are they really preaching the right stuff to me? You always have doubts start to creep into your head.”

In reality, though, those doubts never really materialized in the locker room. 

The successes from nonconference play certainly helped, but this new-look CSU team always believed it was capable of making a run like this in the Mountain West and now that it’s here and they are 5-0 in February, it’s just validation to keep pushing.

“We got really close during that (3-8) stretch,” sophomore guard Jase Butler said. “Now, we have so much confidence going into every game, knowing we’re the underdog. We know how good we can be as a team and I think we’re starting to show that finally.”

This latest win may have been the Rams’ most impressive of the season. It came against the No. 2 team in the conference and it didn’t come because of a ridiculous shooting night or a stark contrast in turnovers. It came because CSU took the fight to a team defined by its toughness and never ran from it.

“I thought from the very jump we were the aggressors,” Farokhmanesh said.

Junior forward and Englewood native Carey Booth made sure of that with his ferocious poster dunk that brought the house down less than four minutes in.

Just like they were last week against rival Wyoming, it was Butler and Booth who were at the heart of this win. They combined for 47 points as they showed off a diverse skill set that Farokhmanesh has believed in since each of them was in high school.

After both not finding success at the power conference level previously, they found their way to Fort Collins and Farokhmanesh last offseason and have grown so much in their first seasons in green and gold.

“It’s really cool to see two guys that didn’t get opportunities where they were at before shine the way they are right now,” Farokhmanesh said.

That’s how it is for the entire roster, though. Whether it was the returners who believed in Farokhmanesh enough to stay at CSU or the handful of newcomers who saw what he did for someone like Nique Clifford, they all wanted to be a part of a culture of development in Fort Collins.

All of that development has paid off over the last few weeks and — just like last season when they won 11 straight games from Feb. 15 into the NCAA Tournament — the Rams are starting to look like a team no one is going to want to face in Las Vegas next month.

“It’s a product of them just buying into what we’ve been preaching day in and day out,” Farokhmanesh said. “They’ve been practicing well all season. The focus, though, has changed, really in the last month. Sometimes you don’t realize how much more it takes to win. You can’t just show up. The level of focus they’ve had the last month, yeah, it’s been fun to watch.”

GAME RECAP

Colorado State 83, San Diego State 74

What happened: The Rams (17-10, 8-8 Mountain West) matched their longest win streak of the season at five games by knocking off the Aztecs (18-8, 12-4), one of the top teams in the conference. 

Star of the night: Jase Butler continues to emerge as potentially the next CSU star as the sophomore guard quickly topped the career high in points he set last weekend, scoring a game-high 25 points on 5 for 8 shooting from the field, 4 for 6 from 3-point range and 11 for 12 from the free-throw line.

Quotable: “If you would’ve seen some of these guys in June, I don’t know if you would’ve believed where they are today.” — CSU coach Ali Farokhmanesh on the growth of his team

Up next: The Rams remain at home and will take on Fresno State on Tuesday (7 p.m., Mountain West Network).