CU holds off UNLV for 68-64 victory

By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer
Mar 16, 2:01 am EDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)—For anyone familiar with Colorado basketball, the scene was hard to believe.

The Buffs leading UNLV, of all teams, by 20. Their fans standing in The Pit, of all places, chanting “This is our house.”

Well, CU’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament in nine years didn’t turn out to be a breeze, but yes, maybe the Buffs could get used to this college basketball thing.

Freshman Askia Booker came off the bench for 16 points and Andre Roberson had 12 points and 16 rebounds, as Colorado fought off a furious UNLV comeback for a 68-64 victory Thursday night at The Pit.

“It’s been great,” Roberson said. “I feel like our guys are playing well, playing with a lot of confidence, and we’re just going to try to keep it rolling.”

The 11th-seeded Buffs (24-11), who bullied their way into March Madness for the first time in nine years by winning the Pac-12 tournament as a No. 6 seed, suddenly can’t seem to do anything wrong. The team that got snubbed by the selection committee last year and used that as fuel for this season has won five straight games with its season essentially on the line.

CU’s next test is Saturday against No. 3 seed Baylor, a 68-60 winner over South Dakota State earlier and a former Big 12 rival of the Buffs.

For the first 27 minutes of this South Regional game, Tad Boyle’s team played with a freedom and looseness that made the game look easy. Never as easy as early in the second half, when Austin Dufault (14 points) made back-to-back 3-pointers and Carlon Brown (12) followed with another to push CU’s lead to 49-29. A few minutes later, it was 53-33.

CU leading UNLV by 20?

That’s the kind of thing that just didn’t seem possible—and not just decades back, but as recently as a few weeks ago.

Maybe it was too good to be true.

UNLV went on a 22-4 run and cut the lead to two on Justin Hawkins’ 3-pointer with 4:20 left. From there, though, sixth-seeded UNLV (26-9) missed its next seven shots. Brown made a windmill dunk—reminiscent of those he slammed home late in Pac-12 wins over Arizona and Cal—to help CU regain its bearings, then the Buffs made 4 of 8 free throws in the last minute to hold on for the win.

“Our guys were not handling it well, that was obvious,” Boyle said. “We talked about playing with poise, playing with composure and continuing to attack. When we got stops, we wanted to run. That’s one of the things that had gotten us that lead to begin with.”

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