Contact CU Independent basketball beat writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu and follow her on Twitter @crazysportsgirl1
During a stalemate of a matchup on Thursday night, the Buffaloes nearly lost to Washington State at home. The game would end 88-81 in favor of the Buffs, after two intense overtime periods.
“That was a big time win for us. We needed it, showed great toughness, I thought, through the overtimes. We overcame some adversity, didn’t play our best game. I think it’s a testament to, again, how good this league is,” head coach Tad Boyle said.
With eight seconds left in overtime, Washington State’s Que Johnson looked to have sealed the deal for an upset over Colorado when he sunk a layup and drew a foul from senior guard Xavier Talton. But the Buffs rushed to the other end of the court, fed the ball to King on the right wing and he launched it as time expired.
Nothing but net. SportsCenter Top 10, easily.
“(I didn’t know), not when it left my hand, but when it was halfway there, I was like, ‘This thing might got a chance.’ And it went in, so it was great,” sophomore guard George King said.
Five Buffs scored in double digits. They were led by King (21), junior forward Wesley Gordon (15 points, 12 rebounds), senior guard Xavier Talton (13), senior guard Josh Fortune (11) and freshman guard Thomas Akyazili, who scored a career-high 10 points.
Gordon recorded his ninth double-double of his career, which was his fourth on the season. He was the driving force in the second overtime in defensive rebounds, blocks and sinking buckets that complemented a 6-0 Colorado run down the stretch.
The Buffs shot 43.3 percent from the field (26-of-60) and 29.4 percent from three-point range (5-of-17). They only committed eight turnovers in 50 minutes of play, which paled in comparison to their 24 lost balls in their previous matchup at Oregon State.
The Cougars shot 50.8 percent from the floor (32-of-63) and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-16). They committed 18 turnovers, but out-rebounded Colorado 40 to 36.
Both teams got off to a quick start as each scored easily in the opening minutes. Though the Cougars got the first points on the board, Colorado responded with 11 unanswered points and didn’t look back.
The Buffs led by as many as 13 points, 28-15, midway through the first half before the Cougars fought back. Over the next five minutes, Washington State outscored Colorado 14-3 to pull within two, 31-29.
Despite the little scare, the Buffs stayed on top of the Cougars as they pulled out the last six minutes of the half to lead 41-32 at the break.
Midway through the second half, the Cougars started to make things interesting again, as they tied things up at 55 and subsequently gained their first lead in over 30 minutes, 58-57.
After Washington State tied it back up at 67 with 57 seconds left, nobody could break the stalemate by the end of regulation, which forced an overtime period.
Not much changed throughout the first OT as the Buffaloes and Cougars swapped leads and ended, once again, in a stalemate with the score tied at 78. Things looked bleak for the Buffs with just seconds left before King sunk a pullup jumper from beyond the arc as time expired to send the contest into yet another overtime.
Throughout the final five minutes of play, the Buffs commanded the pace of the game and snuck away with their second victory against the Cougars, winning by a final score of 88-81.
The Buffs return to their home court on Saturday, February 13 at noon as they rematch Washington, to whom they lost to in January. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
“We got a lot of confidence. I mean, the loss we got at Washington was more on us rather than them, so we got a lot of confidence if we fix our mistakes; we’ll be fine,” Gordon said.
