MBB Scores 65 First Half Points, Rolls to 117-74 Win

Thursday, December 22

Boulder, Colo.

7 p.m.

Colorado

114

Mercer

December 22, 2005 | Men's Basketball

By: Associated Press

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Jayson Obazuaye scored a career-high 19 points and Kyle Carder added 13 points as Colorado won its seventh straight by routing Mercer 117-74 Thursday night.

Sixteen players scored points for Colorado (8-1) which substituted freely and posted its first seven-game winning streak since the 1996-97 season. The Buffaloes shot a season-high 63 percent from the field as they extended their non-conference unbeaten streak to 15 games.

Colorado continued its hot 3-point shooting, connecting on 12-for-19 on 3-pointers, to boost its four game total to 41.

“I think it was a good game, we played well," said CU head coach Ricardo Patton. "Maybe the best we've played all year. We made our shots and we had guys sharing the basketball, and we had 29 assists. We need these types of performances against other teams as well, especially when we get to our Big 12 schedule. We came out with the right mindset and didn't take this game for granted.”

Andrew Brown led undermanned Mercer (1-5) with 14 points. Brian Pfohl and Will Emerson had 12 points each for the Bears, who suffered their fourth straight loss and their worst of the year.

They were beaten by 36 points in their last game on Dec. 18 at Oklahoma State.

Colorado had 65 points by halftime, the most the Buffaloes had scored in a half since Dec. 7, 1990 when they recorded 75 points in the second half of a game against Central Connecticut.

Andy Osborn and Richard Roby hit 3-pointers in the first two minutes to get Colorado off to an early 24-6 lead. Emerson's layup and free throw with 12:18 left got Mercer as close as 26-11 in the first period.

The Bears didn't score again until Pfohl's layup with 9:15 remaining in the half. By then the Buffaloes lead was 37-13 and their starters had retired to the bench. Reserve Scott Senger accounted for six points the rest of the way as Colorado extended its lead to 65-29 by halftime.

Things didn't get any better for Mercer in the second half. Turnovers then dunks by Obazuaye and Marcus Hall made it 73-33.

Colorado's reserves took over for good with 10:44 remaining after Glean Eddy's 3-pointer gave Colorado a 52-point bulge, 98-46.

GAME NOTES

The last time CU started a season 8-1 was 1979-80 (26 years ago)

CU has now won seven in a row, a first since 1996-97 when they won eight straight

CU led from the start jumping out to a 6-0 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers (Osborn, Roby)

CU made NINE first half 3-pointers (previous season-high was eight against Utah)

CU's 63 points in the first half in the most since 1982-83

CU scored 63 points in the first half, a school high scored in the first half (since 1982-83); previous high was 61 vs. Colorado State (Dec. 23, 2000)

CU's 36-point halftime lead is the most since having a 27-point lead over Sam Houston State (Dec. 3, 1993)

Every CU player played in the game, all in the first half

CU scored 117 points, the last time CU scored the century mark was 107 against Stetson (107-74) Nov. 24, 2002; it's also a Big 12 Conference high for points this season

The 43-point win ranks fourth since 1982-83 for margin of victory

CU is now 12-0 when scoring over 100 points

Seventh time in CU history when scoring 117+ points

CU averages 7.8 treys a game, tonight they made 12, tying a CU season-high

The Buffs have defeated Mercer twice in their history (78-61 in Boulder on Dec. 6, 1991) and tonight

CU is 5-0 at home and has won 14-straight non-conference games dating back to Jan. 8, 2004

The current senior class is 23-3 in non-conference home games (.885)

CU is 62-7 since 1996-97 in home non-conference games (.899)

The Buffs are ahead of last year's 3-point record pace (223 made) with 74-of-198 after eight games (last year's eight-game total was 58-of-148)

Walk-on Kyle Carder scored a career-high 13 points

Julius Ashby made his return to the CU line up 6:27 of the first half after being academically ineligible for the fall semester. Ashby scored six points

Marcus Hall handed-out five assists tonight, he has 209 career assists for 18th all-time

Richard Roby is 68th in all-time scoring (636 pts. with a 16.5 ppg.)

Jayson Obazuaye scored a career-high 19 points

Glean Eddy (100) tied current CU Director of Basketball Operations Will Smith (100) tonight for consecutive games played without fouling out. Antoine McGee is close behind (99). However, Smith played 2,178 minutes, Eddy has only played 1,502 and McGee (1,417)