Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Kansas State
MBB Drops Nail-Bitter To Kansas State, 84-82
February 26, 2005 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Jeremiah Massey had 28 points and 19 rebounds Saturday and Kansas State held off a late Colorado rally for an 84-82 victory in the ``race'' to stay out of 11th place in the Big 12.
Sophomore Lance Harris added a career-high 20 for the Wildcats (15-10, 5-9 Big 12), who won their second straight after six consecutive losses. They stayed in the running for an NIT bid, assuming they don't win the conference tournament, which is what they'll most likely need to go to the NCAAs.
CU freshman Richard Roby made seven 3-pointers to hit 30 points for the first time in his career.
The Buffs (13-13, 4-10), who now lead only Baylor in the Big 12, trailed by 16 with 5 minutes left, but got it down to two twice inside the last 20 seconds. After Glean Eddy dunked to make it 84-82 with 9.1 seconds left, the Buffs fouled Harris, and he missed both free throws.
Colorado got the rebound and got the ball to Marcus Hall, who rushed down and missed a layup, barely grazing the rim. Massey got the rebound and was called for traveling, but the buzzer sounded as the call was made and the Wildcats had just their third win away from home this season.
It was a disappointing close for the Buffs, who at halftime honored their only Final Four team on the 50th anniversary of the program's sole appearance in the national semifinals.
For the first 35 minutes of this one, the current Buffs look about a half-century away from playing that level of basketball.
They allowed the Wildcats to shoot 56.9 percent from the floor, one week after an embarrassing display at home against Texas A&M, which shot 60 percent en route to a way-too-easy 92-77 victory.
When the Wildcats weren't shooting up a storm, they were grabbing their own rebounds. Of their 39 boards, 13 came on the offensive glass and most resulted in points.
Even after Colorado used a 12-0 run to cut its deficit to four with 2:05 left, the Buffs couldn't get the stops they needed to get over the hump.
Leading 76-72, Kansas State answered by pounding the ball down to Massey, who got fouled and made two free throws. Hall answered with two free throws of his own, but Massey responded with an offensive rebound and a stick back to push the lead back to six and set up the frantic finish.
Jayson Obazuaye had 15 points for Colorado and Andy Osborn had 13.
Fred Peete finished with 10 for K-State, which goes for its third straight win next Wednesday at Kansas.
