Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
1-0
Idaho State
0-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho State | 38 | 42 | 80 |
| CU | 45 | 43 | 88 |
Boyle's Debut Victorious, But Bengals' Guard Scary Good
November 13, 2010 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Tad Boyle won his debut Friday night as Colorado's new men's basketball coach, but there are a couple of obvious fixes to make as he and the Buffaloes move forward.
Start with better on-ball defense on the other team's point guard. And start with Idaho State's Broderick Gilchrest as Exhibit A. Boyle and his players expect more, but it was a 'W' - the only bottom line letter that matters.
After CU had finally dispatched Idaho State 88-80 - despite Gilchrest's career-best 39 points - Boyle admitted his emotions were "all over the board . . . It wasn't a pretty win, but it was a win. There's a lot of room for improvement, but you expect that on Nov. 12. I was nervous. You just hope your guys respond and are ready to play."
Most of the time they were, with the noticeable exception of defending the 6-foot, 185-pound Gilchrest, who hit 6-of-8 from beyond the arc and was 13-of-21 overall from the field.
"Once you let a guy like that get going, it's hard to stop him," CU senior Cory Higgins said.
But if the Buffs yielded too many points to Gilchrest to suit any of them, they also finished well for a first night by hitting 10 free throws in the final 3:14 to keep the Bengals winless in their last 13 road games.
CU got double-figure scoring from Alec Burks (20, his ninth 20-point career performance), Cory Higgins and Levi Knutson (16 each) and Marcus Relphorde (12). Austin Dufault added nine points and freshman Andre Roberson had a game-high 11 rebounds in 21 minutes.
Higgins said he and his teammates "want to do our best for (Boyle); we know he has our backs . . . but this wasn't the type of win we wanted. We gave up 80 points at home, a lot of layups, and we're going to see a lot better teams."
Added Knutson: "We competed . . . we were just good enough to win. There's obviously some improvement to made defensively; Gilchrest gave it to us there for a while."
The Buffs led 45-38 at halftime, opening that advantage with a 10-4 run that was highlighted by Burks' highlight reel dunk - a twisting, over-the-head throw-down that almost sent CU's student section into a collective spasm.
That field goal gave the Buffs their biggest first-half lead - 43-35 - and momentarily stifled the momentum the Bengals had gotten from Gilchrest, a senior guard who finished the half with 20 points by hitting all four of three-point attempts and was 7-for-10 from the field.
Gilchrest's first-half total was only five points shy of his career-best (25, twice), and CU fans might have had a bad feeling about what he could accomplish in the second half if the Buffs' defense didn't tighten.
It didn't, and shortly after the second half began, Gilchrest was back in his groove. Idaho State scored the first eight points of the half, with Gilchrest getting five on the back end with two free throws and a deep three-pointer in front of his bench.
That put him at 25, tying his career best - but he was far from done. His three-point play on the Bengals' next possession pushed them ahead 49-47 with 16:58 to play.
Buffs point guards Nate Tomlinson and Shannon Sharpe had been taking turns on him, but not with much success until about the 14-minute mark when Sharpe clamped down. Boyle said at every time out he and his staff challenged his players to man-up on Gilchrest.
It must have helped; he managed only two more points in about a 4-minute stretch, pulling the Bengals to within 52-51, before the Buffs began pulling away.
From that point, CU outscored their Big Sky Conference visitors 20-6, taking a 72-57 advantage before Gilchrest would score again. During that run, CU got six straight points from Knutson - Boyle called him "the difference for us in the second half" - and back-to-back three-pointers by Dufault and Higgins.
But the Bengals, behind Gilchrest of course, wouldn't roll over. They cut the Buffs' 15-point advantage to eight (76-68) on a short jump hook by Abner Moreira with 3:36 remaining.
Higgins, after hitting a pair of free throws to push CU up 78-68, took his turn on Gilchrest in the final 3 minutes. Gilchrest hit a pair of free throws with 1:05 left for his final two points, and four points by Sam Lacey thereafter brought the Bengals to within 84-78.
But with Burks going four-for-four from the free-throw line in the last half minute, Idaho State would get no closer than six points and Boyle would leave a first-night winner.
The Buffs play at Georgia on Tuesday night (5 p.m. MST, FSN RM) and at San Francisco four nights later. Their next home game is against Alcorn State on Nov. 23.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
