Colorado
8-2,0-0Pac-12
Colorado State
7-6,0-2Mountain West
Buffs Survive Rams Rally To Collect Road Win
December 13, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
FORT COLLINS — What could have been — maybe should have been — a runaway turned into a nail-biter for the Colorado Buffaloes here Friday night.
But after allowing a 16-point second-half lead to melt away, Tad Boyle's Buffs recovered down the stretch to come away with a 56-48 win over in-state rival Colorado State at Moby Arena.
The No. 24 Buffs ended a two-game losing streak and improved to 8-2 while CSU dropped to 7-6.
Colorado led 27-12 at the half and 36-20 early in the second half, only to see the Rams come back and tie the game at 39-39 with 7:14 left to play. But the Buffs slowly rebuilt their edge to 46-40 with under four minutes to play, then held the Rams at bay down the stretch by hitting eight free throws in the final minute.
CU's bench came up big in the game, with senior guard Shane Gatling scoring 20 points and Lucas Siewert chipping in 12 points and six rebounds. D'Shawn Schwartz added eight points and a career-high nine rebounds. Overall, CU's bench scored 34 points while the starters had just 22.
Isaiah Stevens had 10 points for CSU and Nico Carvacho had nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Buffs overcame a season-high 21 turnovers that led to 14 CSU points, but did have a 44-32 edge on the boards. CU also held the Rams to just 29 percent shooting from the field (18-for-62), including just 2-for-22 from 3-point range.
Colorado shot only 37.8 percent from the floor (17-for-45), but hit eight of its 18 3-point tries.
"I'm not sure how we won that game tonight, especially after looking at the stat sheet" said Boyle, whose Buffs collected their second straight win over the Rams. "There's some eye-popping numbers that say we probably didn't deserve to win, but the reality is we did because we defended at a very, very high level for 40 minutes."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado led by 15 points at intermission, 27-12, and seemed to be in full control after holding CSU to 5-for-28 shooting (0-10 from 3-point range) in the first half.
But after their ice-cold first half, the Rams began connecting and the Buffs compounded their woes by continuing to turn the ball over. Colorado State put together runs of 8-0 and 11-0, and with 7:14 to play, CSU tied the game at 39-39 on a David Roddy drive.
The Buffs had five turnovers in a five-minute span to assist the CSU comeback, igniting a raucous crowd of 6,629. The Rams finished with 14 points off the CU miscues.
Colorado State's comeback was also aided by a third foul on CU's Evan Battey early in the second half. When Battey went to the bench, Carvacho had just two points. But without the Buffs' big man to defend Carvacho, the CSU senior went inside for two quick buckets to start an 8-0 Colorado State burst.
But just when the crowd threatened to hit a fever pitch after the Rams tied it, the Buffs finally answered with a 7-1 run to regain control, getting three defensive stops in the surge. Gatling hit a short jumper to give CU a lead it didn't relinquish again, Daylen Kountz hit two free throws and Gatling buried a 3-pointer from the corner, giving the Buffs a 46-40 edge with just under four minutes to play.
Gatling finished the night 7-for-12 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from long distance. But it was a 2-pointer that came with a friendly bounce with just more than two minutes remaining that gave CU a 48-43 lead and put the Buffs in control down the stretch.
"I want to be more than just a 3-point shooter and I feel like I'm more than just a 3-point shooter," Gatling said. "I want to be a scorer. I won't force it, but if it's there, I can do it."
After Gatling's bucket, CU's Tyler Bey came up with a huge block on Carvacho on the defensive end of the floor. CU then hit eight free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
"That was a little bit of redemption," said Bey, who sat much of the first half with two fouls and finished with nine points and five rebounds. "I had to come up with a play right there."
Gatling's big night came at exactly the right time, as CU starting guard McKinley Wright IV struggled through an uncharacteristic 1-for-11 night from the floor — but he did grab eight rebounds.
"A lot of players would be mad and frustrated and have their heads down because they didn't play well," Wright said. "As a player, you expect to play well all the time but it doesn't happen all the time. To have Shane step up like that is huge. It just shows how many weapons we have. He'd been struggling a little bit but we know he can make shots like that and tonight he did."
While not pleased with the mistakes that allowed CSU to come back, Boyle was still happy with his team's toughness down the stretch.
"We're not playing great, but we're figuring out a way to win games," Boyle said. "That is the sign of a tough, gritty, basketball team. And I'm not going to say we're a good team right now because we're not playing like a good team, but we're a tough and gritty team. I can. I can say that with 100 percent confidence. I love our team."
Colorado controlled the entire first half, using an 8-0 run to take a 12-2 lead at the 12:10 mark, with Gatling and Schwartz each draining 3-pointers in the run.
Colorado's defense frustrated the Rams for the entire half. CSU endured a 1-for-11 stretch from the field at one point, and finished the half shooting just 5-for-28, including an ice-cold 0-for-10 effort from 3-point range.
The Buffs, meanwhile, managed to shoot 10-for-25, including a 4-for-7 half from Gatling (3-4 from beyond the arc).
CSU managed to cut Colorado's lead to 10 points late in the half but the Buffs came back with the final five points of the period — all from Gatling — to take a 27-12 edge into intermission.
TURNING POINT: After the Rams had tied the game at 39-39, CSU had a chance to take the lead after a Colorado turnover. But the Buffs got a defensive stop, then went on a 7-1 run to regain control.
WHAT IT MEANS: The win ends a two-game skid and the Buffs — who had played four games in 10 days — now have some time off before their next game, as they don't play again until next Thursday.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs hit 8 of their 18 3-point tries while CSU was just 2-for-22 from long range … The Buffs overcame a season-high 21 turnovers that led to 14 CSU points, but did have a 44-32 edge on the boards … CU's bench outscored their CSU counterparts, 34-15.
NEXT UP: The Buffs have several days off for finals before returning to action next Thursday in a 6:30 p.m. home game against Prairie View A&M.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
