Colorado
14-2, 3-0
Washington State
7-8, 0-3
Buffs Ease Past Cougars In OT, Go To 3-0 In Pac-12
January 08, 2014 | Men's Basketball
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Colorado Buffaloes hit the Pac-12 road for the first time on Wednesday night and the road almost hit back.
No. 15 CU escaped Spokane Arena with a 71-70 overtime win over Washington State to improve to 14-2 overall and remain unbeaten (3-0) in the Pac-12. The Buffs' 14-2 record matches their best start since the 1968-69 season.
For 40 minutes, the task of earning their first conference road win of the season seemed bleak, but in the five extra minutes that mattered most the Buffaloes came away with the victory.
"[Washington State] dictated the tempo, we let them dictate the tempo, we were soft defensively," Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. "We did what we had to do down the stretch to get the win, and for that I'm proud, but I am not proud of this performance."
Sophomore Josh Scott scored eight of his team high 19 points in overtime as CU finally pulled away from WSU (7-8, 0-3). Scott also collected nine rebounds, barely missing his sixth consecutive double-double. Junior guard Askia Booker scored 18 points and sophomore forward Xavier Johnson added 14.
The Buffs hit five of eight free throws - four by Booker, one by Spencer Dinwiddie - in the final 37.2 seconds of the extra period but had to withstand a pair of treys by the Cougars that brought them to within one point with 1.5 seconds to play.
"We didn't play very well, I think that's pretty obvious, but I'm proud we pulled it out,"Â Scott said. "I think our team had a little realization that we are the No. 15 team in the country and people are going to make tough shots, we were lucky to pull this one out."
Hit tough shots, the Cougars did. Junior guard Dexter Kernish-Drew led all scorers with 24 points, including an unbelievable performance from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-8 3-pointers. As a team, Washington State hit 13-of-23 shots (56.5 percent)  from deep, matching Elon for the most threes hit by a CU opponent this season.
Colorado was able to overcome the Cougars' hot shooting by getting to the free throw line. The Buffs shot 38 freebies, connecting on 26 of them, while WSU only shot three free throws the entire night.
CU fell behind 3-0Â on the first of many Cougar threes to come, managed only three ties and trailed by their largest first-half margin -- 34-28 -- at intermission. The Buffs' leading scorer, Dinwiddie, did not take a first-half shot and didn't score his first basket until he hit a 3-pointer with 7:54 remaining in regulation to bring CU to within 49-47. He finished with only six points and missed two free throws with three-tenths of a seconds left in overtime.
The Buffs didn't take their first lead until 4:26 remained, getting a pair of free throws by Johnson to go up 53-51.
After Xavier Talton hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to give CU a 56-53 lead with 1:25 to play, WSU's Drew Johnson forced overtime with a trey over Talton that tied the score at 56-56 with 4.2 seconds remaining in regulation. A desperation shot by Booker at the buzzer missed and sent the game into OT.
"We were not ready to play from the get-go, we came out flat and there is no excuse for it," Boyle said. "We dodged a bullet tonight."
The Buffs play Washington in Seattle on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. MST, Fox Sports1).
