Colorado
Radford
CU CRUISES TO 74-58 WIN OVER RADFORD
December 23, 2004 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER, Colo. (AP)Â - Richard Roby scored 18 points and Chris Copeland added 16, helping Colorado win its fourth consecutive game with a 74-58 victory over Radford Thursday night.
Colorado (6-2) is in the midst of a relatively easy week, coming off a victory over Missouri-Kansas City and a game against Gardner-Webb coming up, and the Buffaloes didn't have much trouble against Radford.
Playing its first game without forward Julius Ashby, who could be out up to two months with a torn foot tendon, Colorado used aggressive defense and a size advantage inside to go up big early.
The Buffaloes didn't do much to extend a 16-point halftime lead, letting Radford pull within 10 with nine minutes left, but never really gave the Highlanders much of a chance to get back in it.
Marcus Hall added 13 points for Colorado, which will face its first big challenge in about a month next Thursday at Utah.
Radford (5-4) won five of its first eight games, though the caliber of opponents was nothing like facing Colorado.
It showed.
After beating the likes of Ferrum, Lees-McRae and Carson-Newman, the Highlanders had a little more trouble in their first game against a Big 12 opponent.
Radford struggled getting into its offense against the bigger and more athletic Buffaloes and wasn't much better on defense, allowing Colorado plenty of layups and shots in the lane. The Buffaloes hit 15-of-26 shots in the second half and shot 50 percent overall.
Chris Oliver had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead the Highlanders, who shot 37 percent and had 20 turnovers in their first game in 13 days.
Colorado gave Radford trouble from the start.
Hall started things off with a 3-pointer on the game's first shot and Colorado opened with a 10-2 run, holding the Highlanders without a field goal until Olumuyiwa Popoola hit a short jumper at 16:42.
Colorado got sloppy for a stretch to allow Radford to cut the lead to 19-13, but the Buffaloes followed with a 10-0 run to take control. Pressuring the Highlanders into mistakes and bad shots, Colorado scored 18 points off 12 turnovers in the first half and held the Highlanders to 8-of-25 shooting to take a 37-21 lead.
The Buffs will host their last non-conference opponent when Gardner-Webb travels to Boulder on Dec. 28. Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CU will play two more non-conference road games against Utah and Richmond before starting Big 12 conference play against Oklahoma on Jan. 8.
