Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
16-7, 8-3
Oregon
16-7, 7-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 37 | 34 | 71 |
| Colorado | 33 | 39 | 72 |
Brooks: Tomlinson's Free Throw Lifts Buffs Past Ducks
February 04, 2012 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Second chances to win basketball games usually don't occur within 16-second spans, but Nate Tomlinson glanced at the clock Saturday night, saw his second chance hanging there, then raced for it.
Tomlinson beat the clock and Oregon, sinking the first of two free throws with one second remaining to push Colorado to a 72-71 win at the sold-out, wrung-out, but far from bummed out Coors Events Center.
With four seconds to play, the Colorado senior guard dribbled the length of the court and was fouled - Oregon coach Dana Altman believed otherwise - as he launched himself for a layup.
"Of course," Tomlinson answered afterwards when asked if he was fouled by Oregon's E.J. Singler. But Altman's postgame pursuit of the officiating crew suggested the second-year top Duck disagreed. By then, though, the call and one free throw had been made, never mind that Tomlinson - by his own admission - "bricked my second one."
More reserved than he was at game's end, Altman called the foul that sent Tomlinson to the free throw line for the final time "just part of the game . . . we didn't shoot free throws well (10-of-17, but CU was 23-of-30). They beat us there and that was a big difference."
The win kept the Buffs unbeaten at home (7-0) in Pac-12 Conference play and in a second-place tie (8-3 conference, 16-7 overall) with California. Washington leads the league at 9-2.
Coach Tad Boyle, who became the first CU coach to win his 40th game in his second season, called Tomlinson's sprint up-court and drawing the foul "a big-time play . . . a smart play by Nate. It was one you expect your senior point guard to make."
Tomlinson also expected it of himself - especially after he had missed one of two free throws with 17.4 seconds to play. His stat line wasn't spectacular: 7 points on 1-of-5 from the field (his only three-pointer in four attempts) and 4-of-7 free throws; 2 rebounds, 4 assists and a turnover. But he made Oregon's leading scorer, Devoe Joseph, work for most of his 18 points.
When Tomlinson made the first of two foul shots with 17.4 seconds to play, CU went up 71-69. But Oregon's Olu Ashaolu (17 points, 9 rebounds) tied the score with an inside basket and was fouled. He missed his free throw, the Buffs controlled the rebound and Tomlinson was off and dribbling.
Said Tomlinson: "I had a quick look up at the clock and saw that we had about four seconds left. So I made a play to put it in the refs' hands - and luckily I got the call."
Said Boyle: "You officiate the game from start to finish; if a kid gets fouled, it's a foul. I had no problem with most of those calls. I want the game officiated from start to finish just like coach Altman and any other coach does. I had no problem."
CU freshman Askia Booker, who led the Buffs with 17 points off the bench (13 in the first half), called Tomlinson's drive to the basket "a veteran move . . . he didn't settle for a jump shot, he went for a layup."
After hitting only one of his two free throws 16 seconds earlier, Tomlinson said he "felt like I threw the game away . . . I wouldn't have been able to sleep until next week if I'd missed that (last) one."
Sleep will come easy now, but this was a restless night for the Buffs. The road-tough Ducks (16-7, 7-4) outrebounded them 37-32, converted 15 CU turnovers into 18 points and outscored the home team 32-30 in the paint. Oregon also was able to shoot 42.9 percent from the field (27-of-63), surpassing CU's league-leading 39.6 field goal percentage defense.
And the Buffs struggled offensively in the first half, hitting only nine of 24 shots from the field (37.5 percent) and not making a three pointer (0-8) for the first time this season.
"I told them offensively we can't panic," Boyle said. "We expect sometimes at home that things are going to be easy and shots will go in and the crowd would be into it."
Eventually, CU's second sellout of the season (11,052 Saturday) was, but not until the Buffs righted themselves in the second half and made half of their 10 three-point tries. None was bigger than freshman Spencer Dinwiddie's three-ball from the left corner that made it 70-66 with 32.5 seconds showing.
Coming out of a timeout with 58.1 seconds left, Boyle had set up the play that got Dinwiddie open. Booker found him and Dinwiddie, who was three-of-four from behind the arc and finished with 16 points, finished.
Tomlinson called the Buffs' freshman guard combo "pretty awesome. Askia made a lot of plays and Spencer hit a big three down the stretch . . . they've been good the whole year and I didn't expect anything less from them tonight."
But this was a night when the Ducks wouldn't roll. Guard Johnathan Loyd answered Dinwiddie's trey on the other end with one from the left wing, drawing Oregon to 70-69 with 22.6 left.
Then came Tomlinson's first one-of-two sequence from the line, Ashaolu's tying basket and missed free throw, followed by Tomlinson's second chance - creating a frenzied final half minute.
Oregon had an answer for almost everything CU did - except for Tomlinson's final foul shot.
"It was one of those games where we tried to break it open a few times, but every time we did Oregon had an answer," Boyle said. "Their players showed a lot of toughness (but) I'm really proud of our guys and the toughness they showed."
After Oregon defeated Utah on Thursday night, the Ducks' travel plans were disrupted by the massive snowstorm that canceled hundreds of flights in and out of DIA on Friday. The team finally was able to leave Salt Lake City Friday night, arriving in Colorado before 10 p.m.
The Ducks shrugged off the inconvenience and led 37-33 at halftime, which wasn't surprising given the Buffs' shooting percentage (37.5, 9-of-24). CU's leading scorer, senior Carlon Brown, struggled with his accuracy, scoring five points in each half on 4-of-14 from the field.
But Brown came up big with a length-of-the-floor drive for a left-handed layup that put CU up 67-64. He finished with 10 difficult points, six rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore Andre Roberson was three points short of his 15th double-double of the season, but his 11 rebounds and a career-high seven blocked shots bailed out the Buffs when they were needed.
CU's largest first-half lead was seven points (13-6), but Oregon erased that with a 15-3 run that sent the Ducks up 21-16. During that surge, CU didn't hit a field goal for almost 6 minutes, finally breaking the drought with a jumper by Booker with 8:26 left.
But from that point until intermission, CU remained lukewarm at best. The Buffs' second-half mission should have been well-defined: Keep the Ducks off the glass, get a hand in the face of Joseph (10 first-half points) and locate a shooter - or three.
Oregon opened the second half just as it ended the first, getting a three-pointer from Joseph, before CU responded with a pair from Austin Dufault and Dinwiddie. But the road-tested Ducks weren't fazed, never allowing the Buffs to get closer than three points until a Dinwiddie steal led to a Roberson layup and cut CU's deficit to 46-44 with 14:34 to play.
A minute later, Tomlinson drained a trey from left wing and Dinwiddie followed with one from the top of the key - CU's third and fourth three-pointers after a first half without one to cap a 9-0 run.
The Buffs were up 50-46 and the big Events Center crowd was in a triple frenzy. But the Ducks were far from done. Five straight points from Singler (13 points, 13 rebounds) put Oregon up 51-50 with just over 10 minutes remaining. And they pushed their lead to five (58-53) on a layup and a free throw by Loyd with 7:07 remaining.
The Buffs needed a lift - and it came on a floater in the lane from Booker, a stuff from Shane Harris Tunks and two Booker free throws. CU led 59-58 until Garret Sim drained a three to put the Ducks ahead 61-59.
Brown made one of two free throws with 4:15 to play to pull the Buffs within 61-60, and a tip off a missed Brown finger roll by Roberson tied the score at 62-62 - and the final 3:43 would sizzle all the way to the end. The wild night featured 10 ties, 15 lead changes and offered no one a reason to leave early.
"That was a heck of a basketball atmosphere," Boyle said. "Somebody had to lose that game and I'm glad it was Oregon and not Colorado, because our guys really battled. We didn't play as well as we're capable of playing . . .
"We attacked the basket at the end of the game with Nate and his last play. When you look back there was about a four-game stretch where Nate was really struggling. But I just have a belief in him because I think he's all about the team. He doesn't care if he takes a shot and there are times where he doesn't care if he's on the bench. He wants the team to do well and play well; he's a senior who's worked his tail off."
The Buffs now face three consecutive road games. They head for the desert next week, where they play at Arizona on Thursday night (7 p.m. MST, ESPN) and at Arizona State on Saturday afternoon (4:30 p.m., MST). After a week with no Thursday game, they play at Utah on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
