Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
13-15, 4-10
Iowa State
14-15, 3-11
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa State | 38 | 34 | 72 |
| Colorado | 36 | 39 | 75 |
Higgins, Crawford Push CU Past Iowa State
February 27, 2010 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - In a basketball season where "getting over the hump" has been a mountainous challenge, the Colorado men's team might have begun a timely ascent on Saturday.
The Buffaloes -- in order -- won a close game, defeated a team they were rubbing shoulders with in the Big 12 Conference standings, and possibly put themselves in position for a higher seed in the league's postseason tournament. In an unforgiving league, progress sometimes has come in small steps for the Buffs -- but they're taking them.
With junior Cory Higgins scoring a season-high 33 points, including a pair of clutch free throws with 6.7 seconds to play, CU held off Iowa State 75-72 at the Coors Events Center. The win avenged a 64-63 loss to the Cyclones on Jan. 30 in Ames, Iowa.
"Our team has to learn how to win - and I hope (today) was a big step toward that," CU coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "I'm extremely proud of our team effort . . . it was a collective effort."
How collective? In addition to Higgins' season-best total, three of his teammates reached double figures - Marcus Relphorde (12), Alec Burks (11) and Casey Crawford (10).
Crawford, who entered the game averaging 4.0 points a game, hit consecutive clutch three-pointers in the second half, scored a critical put-back after snaring an offensive rebound and was the key element in CU's bench outscoring ISU's 13-9.
"Casey helped spread their defense," Bzdelik said of Crawford's long-range shooting, but Iowa State coach Greg McDermott was more effusive. He called Crawford "the difference in the game. We were trying to provide help on some of their back cuts and trying to make it difficult for Burks and Higgins as much as we could. We had to give up something and Casey Crawford was just that."
Bzdelik also liked his team's assists (17), low turnover total (9), field goal percentage (55.1) and clutch free-throw shooting (12-of-12, including six-for-six in the final 1:16 from Burks and Higgins).
And don't overlook the Buffs' effort; Bzdelik certainly didn't. "We scrapped our way to a great win for us," he said. "I'm proud of that."
Higgins, whose previous season high was 30 against Kansas State, scored 12 of his total in the first half but helped the Buffs stay afloat throughout.
In an 8-minute stretch in the second half, he scored 15 of CU's 17 points as the Buffs (13-15, 4-10) overtook the Cyclones (14-15, 4-10) at the 9:05 mark and never allowed them to regain the lead.
Higgins, scoring 30-plus points for the fourth time in his career and moving into 12th place on the school's all-time scoring list, said he began the game "just wanting to attack the basket . . . but when my shots started falling, yeah, it felt good."
He called the victory "huge for us; we're still a growing team. Everybody just made plays down the stretch."
McDermott said Higgins "was very efficient with his game. He scored 33 points on 15 shots. He takes good care of the ball and makes good decisions. Some of his shots were challenged and some we were a little late on."
Until the first half's final 51/2 minutes, the Buffs appeared somewhat in control, leading by as many as eight points (23-15) before the Cyclones made a move.
Working mostly inside with 6-foot-10 Craig Brackins, 6-9 LaRon Dendy and 6-7 Marquis Gilstrap, ISU overtook CU and went up 37-31 - the visitors' largest first-half advantage - with 45 seconds left before the break.
But in the final 45, the Buffs limited the Cyclones to a Gilstrap free throw and got a basket by Higgins and trey from Relphorde to close to within 38-36 at intermission.
It was a much-needed surge, but the halftime deficit didn't bode well for the Buffs; entering the game they were 1-8 in Big 12 play when trailing at the half.
ISU, coming to Boulder with one Big 12 road win (56-53 at Nebraska), outscored CU 8-4 to open the second half and reestablish a six-point (46-40) advantage.
Then, Higgins asserted himself. He cut that deficit in half with a three-pointer from the left corner with 15:58 to play, made a pair of free throws just over a minute later, and followed them with a trey from the top of the key.
The Buffs were down 49-48 with 13:36 remaining. But they didn't score again until - who else? - Higgins hit a jumper at the 10:00 mark, followed by a - who else, Part II? - Higgins trey that gave CU its first lead (53-52) since 27-25.
A couple of minutes later, Crawford entered the game and scored 10 of his team's next 12 points. His final basket came on a put-back following one of the Buffs' three offensive rebounds (the Cyclones had 18).
Bzdelik admitted that kind of imbalance normally doesn't occur in a win, and Crawford said his orders were to "grab a rebound . . . (Bzdelik) didn't care how - just get it. I was able to sneak in there, get one and put it back.
"My role is to come off the bench when coach needs me. It's difficult sometimes, but it's (nice) to give a little boost and help the team get the 'W.' I just follow orders and play the best I can."
Over the final 9:05, ISU managed three ties and pulled to 71-70 on Justin Hamilton's three-point play with 54.5 seconds remaining.
But Burks, who has been in double figures this season in every game he's finished, and Higgins added four free throws in the final 23.6 and Diante Garrett missed a trey at the buzzer, delivering CU the critical win.
McDermott said his team "needed a big stop there at the end and we didn't get it. Offensively, we executed well enough and even on the last play, (Brackins) set a good screen. We got (Garrett) a little bit of a look . . . they just locked onto our shooters in the corners."
The Buffs travel to Nebraska on Tuesday (6 p.m., FSN Rocky Mountain) before closing out the regular season against Texas Tech on Saturday, March 6 (2 p.m., Altitude).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
