Contact CU Independent Men’s Basketball Beat Writer Alissa Noe at alissa.noe@colorado.edu
The University of Colorado men’s basketball team came down to the wire in a close game with the University of Oregon Sunday evening, ultimately pulling out a win, 91-87.
After the Denver Broncos’ close AFC Divisional victory Sunday afternoon, fans of Colorado sports could be forgiven if they were hoping for a less nerve-wracking game in CU’s early-evening contest. Instead, the Buffaloes upset Oregon after 15 lead changes and seven ties, and capped a day full of sporting events that were not for the faint of heart.
“It was a big time win for our program against a very, very quality team, a team that I have a lot of respect for,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “They’ve got good players, well-coached, and so when you put this one in the win column you feel like you’ve done something.”
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the night came from senior forward Josh Scott, whose 33rd career double-double, with 17 points and 11 rebounds, tied him for seventh all-time in Colorado history with Hall of Famer Burdette Haldorson.
The biggest difference in the game came from Colorado’s bench, which scored 45 points to Oregon’s 16.
“It was big time,” Scott said. “I’m really happy for these guys. They work really hard, they work at their game and, you know it’s not going to be every night we get this sort of thing, but I’m pretty happy when these guys play pretty well. It makes us an even more dangerous team.”
Josh Scott battles for the opening tip. (Matt Sisneros/CU Independent)
Five Buffaloes scored in double-digits in the win over the highly-touted Ducks. Josh Scott led the way with 17 points, followed by Tre’Shaun Fletcher (14), George King, Xavier Talton (13 each) and Tory Miller (12).
“We don’t want to lose at home,” Scott said. “Our goal is to win the championship so to do that, you can’t drop them at home.”
The Buffs also shelled out a good amount of dimes, distributing 17 among six players, even though the Ducks won that contest with 19 team assists.
The Buffs shot 50 percent from the field (29-of-58) and 57.1 percent from the three-point range after making eight of 14 attempts. Believe it or not, Oregon shot better at 51.6 percent from the floor (32-of-62) and 57.1 percent from deep (12-of-21).
The Buffs and Ducks got off to a fast start and kept play close for much of the first half. After a tumultuous first few minutes of play, the two teams shared the score twice and changed leads five times.
Midway through the first, the Buffaloes cracked open a nine-point lead, 26-19, but the Ducks spent the next five and half minutes trying the get back in the game.
They almost did.
With nearly five minutes left in the half, Oregon scared the Buffaloes by bringing the game to one point, 35-34, but that’s all it took to kick the home team back into gear. After that little hiccup, Colorado went on a nine-point scoring tangent to regain their big lead, 43-34 with three minutes on the clock.
By halftime, the Ducks cut the score back to just five points, 46-41, with Colorado still on top.
King led all Colorado scorers at the half with 10 points, but Scott and Xavier Talton lagged right behind him with eight apiece. Freshman guard Tyler Dorsey, who spurned Colorado along the recruiting trail last year, led Oregon with 10 points.
The Buffs were playing some of the best basketball of their season, yet they only led their opponents by five at the break.
Early into the second half, after a few early buckets from both teams, Oregon opened up an 11-0 run to give them a 55-50 edge, which King promptly ended with a three-point shot. With 13 minutes remaining, a bullseye three-pointer from Talton tied the score back up at 57, and another three from Dom Collier 30 seconds later gave the Buffs the lead again, if only for a little while.
From there on out, the game was a masterpiece of ebbs and flows. Both teams saw 15 lead changes and seven tied scores. But in the end, the Buffaloes bested the Ducks in a heart attack fashion, 91-87.
The Buffs head to Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 8 p.m. to take on the Huskies. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
