Colorado University Athletics
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Colorado State
Late Second Half Rally Powers Rams Over Buffs, 83-82
November 21, 2005 | Men's Basketball
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Sophomore Sean Morris scored a career-best 34 points and his older brother, senior Michael Morris, sank two critical free throws with 10 seconds left as Colorado State beat Colorado, 83-82 Monday night.
After the elder Morris' free throws made it 83-80, Chris Copeland inexplicably dished it inside to Martane Freeman, whose dunk made it 83-82.
The Buffs called timeout with 2.3 seconds left, and Cory Lewis' inbounds pass bounced off Jason Smith with 1.5 seconds left, giving the ball back to the Buffaloes underneath their basket.
Michael Harrison tipped Marcus Hall's inbounds pass to Smith, who dribbled out the clock, securing the Rams' 25th straight home opening victory and their first win over the Buffs since 1999, setting off a wild celebration at Moby Arena, where the students stormed the court.
Smith added 16 points for the Rams (2-0), who also got 10 points each from Harrison and Lewis. Hall added 12 points, seven assists and tied a career-best four steals.
Freeman's career-high 17 points off the bench and Copeland's 16 points led the Buffs (1-1), who saw a 74-66 lead with 7 1/2 minutes vanish when the Rams turned up their pressure defense.
Sean Morris tied it at 79 with 52 seconds left when he sank his school record-tying ninth 3-pointer.
Hall charged at the other end, then fouled Smith, whose two free throws with 26 seconds left gave the Rams the lead for good at 81-79.
Richard Roby (10 points) was fouled with 11 seconds left but missed one of two foul shots, leaving the Rams ahead by a point. After a timeout, Roby fouled Michael Morris, who calmly sank both free throws for an 83-80 lead.
Dale Layer, who beat the Buffs for the first time in six tries as coach of the Rams, ditched his halfcourt offense for an up-tempo pace this year because he finally has the athletes, but even he couldn't have anticipated Sean Morris' big night.
The Buffs have long played a running style and they appeared set to extend their winning streak over the Rams to six for the first time since 1946-50 when they built an eight-point second half lead.
They ultimately missed 6-9 post player Julius Ashby, who is ineligible this semester, however. With Smith clogging up the middle, the Buffs were constantly forced to kick the ball back out to the perimeter or take off-balance shots.
Andy Osborn (11 points) sank three 3-pointers in helping Colorado built a 43-40 halftime lead but he scored just two points in the second half.
