Colorado
2-1
San Diego
4-1
Buffs Come Up Short In Final Minutes, Fall To San Diego
November 20, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
SAN DIEGO — Freshman Evan Battey scored a career-high 18 points and the Colorado Buffaloes had their chances to collect an important road win Tuesday night, but the Buffs fell short in the final minutes, dropping a 70-64 decision to San Diego.
Colorado fell to 2-1 with the loss while San Diego improved to 4-1.
The Buffs led at several junctures of the game, including 61-60 with just 1:56 to go after a pair of free throws from McKinley Wright IV.
But Colorado couldn't get a stop on the other end and the Toreros scored six straight points to regain control. A Shane Gatling 3-pointer with 22 seconds left pulled Colorado back to within two, 66-64, but USD hit four free throws in the final 20 seconds to put the game away.
Wright added 14 points to go with Battey's 18, but they were the only Colorado players in double figures. The Buffs hurt themselves by hitting just nine of their 15 free throw attempts, with two misses on the front end of one-and-one situations proving costly in the final four minutes. USD, meanwhile, hit 18 of 21 free throw tries, including eight straight in the final minute.
The biggest difference came in second-chance points. The Toreros outrebounded Colorado 41-35, including a 15-10 edge on the offensive boards. San Diego converted those offensive rebounds into 18 points.
CU was also slowed all night by foul trouble, with Tyler Bey missing most of the first half with two fouls and finally fouling out with his fifth in the final minute of the game.
Isaiah Pineiro led USD with 27 points.
"We lost this game in two areas," head coach Tad Boyle said. "One I have to get better at as a coach, and that's our execution offensively. We have to execute better than we executed down the stretch. The area the players have to get better in is second shots. They shoot 36 percent, we shoot 42 percent, but they get 15 offensive rebounds. … It was a game we could have won, I feel like we should have won, and our players feel like that. But the bottom line is we didn't win and we all have to take responsibility for that."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado trailed by five at intermission, 35-30, but put together a 12-0 run early in the second half to build a 45-37 lead. Battey had five points in the surge and Lucas Siewert added a 3-pointer.
But the Toreros slowly chipped away at the cushion by answering Colorado's run with a 17-6 surge that gave USD a 60-56 edge with just under five minutes to play. The run included a pair of San Diego buckets off of offensive rebounds, as well as a five-point possession.
Colorado answered with a 5-0 burst to take a 61-60 lead, with Wright scoring all five points. USD regained the edge on an Isaiah Pineiro dunk with 1:31 to go, and the Buffs then turned it over on their ensuing possession. Bey then fouled Pineiro — his fifth — with 58 seconds remaining and Pineiro hit two free throws to give USD a three-point lead.
Colorado then missed a pair of shots on its next possession and the Toreros put the game away at the free throw line in the final 30 seconds.
"I asked three things of our team tonight: great energy for 40 minutes, great effort for 40 minutes, and play with confidence for 40 minutes," Boyle said. "I feel like for the most part we did that. I can't fault our team in those three areas. I told the guys if we will continue to do that, we will get better. But to win a game like this against a quality team on the road, you have to execute offensively and make sure you're getting a great shot. On the other end you have to limit them to one. We didn't do either one of those things well enough tonight to beat a good team on the road."
The Buffs were hampered by foul trouble for much of the first half, with starters Bey and D'Shawn Schwartz each playing just seven minutes before being tagged with their second fouls.
The Buffs managed to stay in the game thanks to nine first-half points from Battey, including a pair of 3-pointers. But Battey also drew his second foul with just under four minutes to play, and Lucas Siewert also had two fouls by the end of the half.
"We prepared well, our players were ready to play," Boyle said. "I can't fault them for their energy or effort, for everything they gave us. As a coach, that's what I ask and expect. What I have to do a better job of is making sure we're getting a great shot every single time and we have the right plays called for the right guys. I think we have to trust our offense a little bit more. Sometimes even in the huddles tonight, we were a little sped up, a little too amped up. Our guys almost wanted it too much."
Colorado jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but the Toreros quickly came back and turned it into a see-saw game that saw seven ties and seven lead changes in the first half. With Battey, Bey and Schwartz on the bench with two fouls for Colorado, the Toreros scored the last five points of the half in the final minute to take a 35-30 lead at intermission.
TURNING POINT: After Colorado took a 61-60 lead with 1:56 to go, the Toreros answered with a second-chance bucket, then two free throws after a CU miss to take control.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs let a chance to get a quality road win slip away, but they will have another chance to win on the road Saturday at Air Force.
CU STANDOUTS: Battey had his best game as a Buff, finishing with 18 points and four rebounds. … McKinley Wright had 14 points and seven boards. … Bey had six points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.
KEY STATISTICS: San Diego won the game with an 18-9 edge in second-chance points, a 41-35 rebounding edge and a 21-15 margin at the free throw line.
NOTEWORTHY: Wright took a tumble over the first row of seats near the end of the game chasing a loose ball, but Boyle said after the game he thought Wright would be OK. … The Buffs shot a better percentage from the floor — 42.1 percent to 36.7 percent — but the Toreros' second-chance buckets made the difference. … San Diego's starters accounted for 65 of the Toreros' 70 points.
QUOTEWORTHY: "We said it at the beginning of the year it's going to be a work in progress. It's a team that's going to get better. We're going to get better because of this game. But the thing that stings is you never get this back. We've got to go back and have great practices and get better and get ready for Air Force." — Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs are back on the road Saturday with a 4 p.m game at Air Force. CU then returns home for four games, beginning with a Nov. 28 matchup with Portland (7 p.m.), followed by a Dec. 1 game with in-state rival Colorado State (1 p.m.).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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