Tonje ready for Colorado State

Two weeks ago, senior boys basketball players John Tonje signed with the Colorado State Rams of the Mountain West Conference. Tonje put up 23.8 points per game during his senior season, as he led the team in scoring. He also added 6.1 rebounds per game, helping the Eagles reach the state title game. 

Tonje improved drastically this past year, and credits his, “teammates and my coaches encouraging me and giving me confidence and let me play my game.” He took home many awards for his successful season including appearing on the Omaha World Herald’s All State Team, and he was the honorary captain of that team.  

In addition to the numbers he put up this year, Tonje scored over 1,000 points in his Central career. 665 of those came this year. He also led the state in made three point field goals, making 73 shots from deep, and averaged 37.6% from deep. Tonje shot over 50% from the field during his senior season.  

Tonje was first offered by Nebraska-Omaha,and was then offered by the Rams. He said, “one of the big reasons (he went to CSU) was the coaching staff, and I feel like I can fit in their system.” The Rams finished 116th in the nation in scoring, at 74.8 points per game. Tonje says he main goal in college is to, “win a conference championship”, something that would lead to a birth in the NCAA Tournament. Colorado State’s last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 2013, when they beat Missouri in the First Round, before falling to Louisville in the Round of 32.  

He will join a program that is coming off of a 12-20 campaign that saw them loose to Boise State in the first round of the conference tournament. The Rams went 7-11 in conference play.