Colorado
7-4, 1-1DHC
George Washington (Semifinal)
8-3, 2-0DHC
Buffs Falter In Final Minutes, Lose 53-50 To Colonials
December 23, 2014 | Men's Basketball
HONOLULU – For the Colorado Buffaloes, what amounted to a romp on the beach on Monday was replaced by an alley fight on Tuesday. The Buffs fought but faltered in the final minutes, allowing George Washington to escape with a 53-50 win in the semifinals of the Diamond Head Classic.
CU (7-4) plays Hawai'i on Christmas Day at 4:30 p.m. MST (ESPN2) for third place in the Classic. The Rainbow Warriors (8-4) took No. 11 Wichita State to overtime before losing 80-79 in Tuesday's other semifinal
"I thought our guys battled," said fifth-year CU coach Tad Boyle, who was denied his 100th win. "I can't question our toughness in a game like this. It was a rock 'em, sock 'em game. It was a totally different game compared to yesterday's game which was a pick-up game (82-68 over DePaul). This was just grind-it-out . . ."
The Buffs had plenty of resolve for the game-long grind, but not enough down-the-stretch composure. And it was there, said Boyle, that the game was lost: "We lost the game down the stretch there, we had a five-point lead and we had four straight possessions where we turned it over and two of those possessions led to layups and got them back in the game. . . . Taking care of the basketball and getting rebounds were keys to this game; we didn't do it down the stretch and they did."
CU did most of what Boyle demands in two key areas – defense and rebounding. His team suffered only its fourth loss (45-4) when outrebounding the opponent (33-32) and holding it under 40 percent from the field (38.6). But 14 turnovers cost CU 15 points.
The Buffs fought back from a pair of nine-point first-half deficits and led by six points midway through the second half in the first ever meeting between the teams. But the Colonials (8-3) caught up with a 6-0 run, took advantage of Buffs errors down the stretch, tied the score at 49-49, and pulled ahead with four free throws in the final 41.4 seconds.
Trailing 51-50, CU aborted a chance to take the lead when Askia Booker was whistled for pushing off near midcourt on a long in-bounds pass from the baseline. GW's Patricio Garino hit two free throws with 29 seconds to play for a 53-50 Colonials advantage.
After a timeout with 10.8 seconds left and needing a trey to tie, the best shot the Buffs could get was a hurried 3-pointer by Booker from near the top of the key. But it was blocked by 6-10 Kevin Larsen just before the horn sounded.
Booker, who tied a career high with 27 points in Monday's 82-68 rout of DePaul, sat out most of the first half after two quick fouls and finished with eight second-half points. Wes Gordon and Josh Scott led CU in scoring with 10 points each.
Boyle said Scott, who scored only five points against DePaul, "had to battle" against Larsen, who had a double-double (19/15) Monday against Ohio University. Mostly guarded by Scott, Larsen went 1-for-8 from the field Tuesday and finished with five points and five rebounds.
Scott is under-appreciated as a defender, said Boyle: "He doesn't get enough credit . . . he's a warrior."
In their rout of DePaul, the Buffs hit 31 of their 38 free throws attempts. Against the Colonials, they were 11-of-17, with Scott going 4-for-8. "He isn't shooting the ball from the free throw line like he is capable," said Boyle. "I don't know what, if it's mechanically maybe we have to look at it and just get him back on track because he is a good free throw shooter, certainly better than he shot (Tuesday) and even (Monday). I don't fault Josh or any one individual, you win as a team, you lose as a team, and I have to take ownership as the coach as well, I have to do a better job."
GW hit 18 of its 25 free throw attempts, including 10 of 13 in the second half. Joe McDonald led the Colonials with 14 points, while John Kopriva and Yuta Watanabe added 11 and 10 respectively.
If the Buffs' start on Monday was white hot, Tuesday's start barely produced a spark. They missed 11 of their first 12 field goal attempts, missed Booker for nearly 15 minutes and fell behind by nine twice before adjusting to his absence and tightening their defense.
When Booker went to the bench with his second foul at the 15:48 mark, CU trailed 7-4 and would go nearly 6:30 without a field goal. Scoreless in his 4-plus minutes of court time, Booker didn't return before halftime. And GW took advantage, rolling to leads of 18-9 and 24-15 before the Buffs found any semblance of rhythm without their point guard.
They kept grinding, cutting the Colonials' 24-15 lead to 26-24 with a 9-2 run that featured five points by Scott, a jumper by Dom Collier and an end-to-end layup by Jaron Hopkins. A Hopkins stuff on a nice feed by Collier kept the Buffs within two (28-26) but Collier fouled McDonald with 2.1 seconds left before intermission and GW went to the locker room with a 30-26 lead.
Neither team hit a 3-pointer in the first half, and there weren't that many tries (CU 6, GW 4). The Buffs wound up shooting 36 percent from the field, the Colonials 39 in the opening 20 minutes. Scott led CU with seven first-half points.
Booker was back on the court to open the second half and his presence made an immediate difference. CU scored the first six points of the half and took 32-30 lead on a Gordon layup after Booker's dish in transition. It was the Buffs' first lead since 4-2 at 17:52 of the first half.
After Booker scored his first points of the afternoon on a layup to give CU a 34-32 lead, he penetrated the 1-3-1 GW zone and kicked the ball out to Hopkins for a trey from the right wing. That triple capped an 11-2 run to open the half and gave the Buffs their largest lead – 37-32 – of the game to that point.
CU increased its lead to six (41-35) on a tip by Johnson, who also scored the next four points. But GW had an answer in McDonald, who got four of the Colonials' next six points and gave them a 46-45 advantage with 3:51 remaining.
The Buffs took two more one-point leads on back-to-back Booker baskets before Larsen tied the score at 49-49 with one of two free throws with 2:11 left. Kethan Savage's pair of foul shots with 41.4 seconds to play put GW up 51-49 and prompted a CU timeout 2.1 seconds later.
Out of the timeout, the ball went to Scott, who pulled the Buffs to 51-50 with one of two free throws. But Garino's pair of free throws pushed GW up 53-50, setting the stage for CU's futility in the final 28 seconds.
"We knew it was going to be hard to score and we came up a little bit short," Boyle said. "But, our toughness, I like it. We were plus-one (33-32) on the boards; any of those long rebounds that came to them, if they come to us, that's the difference in the game . . . . It's frustrating. I have to do a better job with our guys."
