Contact CU Independent Men’s Basketball Writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu and follow her on Twitter @crazysportgirl1.
Coming off of consecutive losses to Southern Methodist and California, Colorado desperately needed a win at Stanford on Sunday night. And after the Buffs nearly squandered a 16-point lead late in the game, they snuck away with a heart-stopping victory, 56-55.
Freshman guard Thomas Akyazili hit a new career best on Sunday night with five assists, adding to the team’s total of 14. He best head to Taco Bell with all those dimes, because it’s all about them Roosevelts.
Senior forward Josh Scott, who has always been a force to be reckoned with on both offense and defense, recorded his 30th career double-double, and his seventh of the year, with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Right behind Scott sat royal riches, with sophomore guard George King adding 12 points and junior guard Josh Fortune supplying 10.
The Buffs won the rebounding battle 43-29, but sorely lost the ball-handling war with 18 turnovers to Stanford’s six.
Luckily, they shot much better than their butterfingers may have suggested. They made 41.2 percent of their field goals (21-of-51) and 26.1 percent of their many three-point attempts (6-of-23).
Stanford, on the other hand, only made 31.5 percent of their shots (17-of-54) and 3-of-15 (20 percent) from beyond the arch. They shined from points off of turnovers, with 22 to CU’s five.
Despite going down in the opening seconds of the game, Colorado responded quickly and with a kick. At first, the Cardinal stayed close on the trail behind the Buffaloes, but after the 15-minute mark, all of their effort went down the tubes as Colorado’s shots consistently went down the net.
For much of the first half, it was the black and gold show as the Buffs cracked open a 12-point lead with nine minutes left, 22-10. They stepped off the gas a bit, and Stanford closed the gap to five points nearly six minutes later, 28-23, but that didn’t last long.
A minute and a half later, after four consecutive points from Scott, George King hit a shot from deep to put the Cardinal back in its spot, 35-23, before adding salt to the wound with a deadly, dirty near-poster of Michael Humphrey that will surely make its way into the Colorado starting lineup video.
By halftime, the Buffs had a 37-27 advantage in enemy territory. More notably, however, they nearly tripled their assists from their previous game with 11 in the first half alone. Akyazili hit a new career high total in that category with five as he proved to be a more valuable teammate than shooter.
Stanford’s situation didn’t improve much at the start of the second half as Colorado extended its lead to 16, 44-28, just two minutes in. But the game was far from over.
Over the course of 14 minutes, Stanford outscored the Buffaloes 25-10 to close the gap to just one point, 54-53, with just over a minute remaining. From there on out, the Cardinal turned Palo Alto into Heart Attack City.
After a feeble three-point attempt from Scott with nine seconds left, Stanford’s Michael Humphrey grabbed the rebound but stepped out of bounds trying to pass it to his teammates with six seconds left. Colorado took over possession.
After a second shot from the Buffs fell short, Stanford regained possession and threw up the ball nearly from half court as time expired. It didn’t hit its mark.
The Buffs snuck away with a one-point victory in Palo Alto, 56-55, as they avoided their third straight loss. They return to their home court on Friday, Jan. 8, to take on the No. 21 Utah Utes, who most likely won’t be ranked after losses to Stanford and California earlier this week. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.
