The Washington Huskies (12-8, 4-5) snuck out of Boulder, Colorado with a 75-72 victory over the Colorado Buffalos (11-9, 3-6). At the opening tip, it was around the freezing mark outside the CU Events Center in Boulder, Colorado. Inside, in the first half the Colorado Buffalos shot just above the freezing mark at 35.5-percent, going 11 for 31 from the floor in the first half.
However, it was a heated shoving match in the second half between players of both teams that the home team got hot, nearly erasing a 13-point deficit. Washington held an uncomfortable seven point-lead at intermission, 33-26.
Uncomfortable because of a 3-minute scoring drought heading into the locker room.
The visitors trailed for just 30 seconds at 4-2 before going on a 9-0 run. Neither team could fully get out of its own way in the first 20 minutes as Colorado seemingly matched Husky turnovers with missed shots of their own.
The Huskies went scoreless from the field in the final 2:58 of the first half and had one bucket in the final 4:02 when they rebuilt a 9-point margin 29-20 on a PJ Fuller jumper. At one point the lead expanded to 11 points when Fuller knocked down two free throws 1:57 before the break.
Colorado narrowed the deficit to seven, 33-26 heading into the locker room. It seemed like the home team would go quietly into the night.
And then…
With just under 3 minutes gone in the second half, Washington had rebuilt its 11-point lead, 39-28 a skirmish broke out. What can best be described as two slumbering teams, Colorado took the wakeup call. The scuffle changed the complexion of the game firing up both Buffalos and the hoe crowd.
In what looked like a couple of deer with the horns interlocked, both Keion Brooks and J’Vonne Hadley held their interlocked arms, turned into the Huskies looking like a helpless deer in the headlights–particularly in the closing as UW turned the ball over 4 times in the final 2 minutes.
Over the course of the 16-minutes from the point of the mini-brouhaha, Colorado outscored the Huskies 44-34. At one point, pulling within a single point 73-72 with 42 seconds left.
The Buffalos had a chance to take the lead but Simpson threw the ball into his own bench, missing everyone with just 5 ticks of the clock left. On the ensuing inbounds pass Bajema was fouled and sank two free throws with 4 seconds remaining in the game giving the Huskies a 73-72 victory.
Not only did the skirmish wake up Colorado but Brooks got scorching scoring 18 points in the second period. He went 6 for 6 from the field including hitting both of his 3-point attempts and all 4 free throws. In fact, when Washington wasn’t having trouble holding onto the ball they shot quite well going 14-22 from the field and 10-11 from the charity stripe.
Braxton Meah continues to improve registering a double-double scoring 10 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. The most curious stat of the night might be that the Huskies went 4 for 4 from the field in their final 4 shots, but they also had no field goals in the last 2:36 of the contest.
Next up for Washington is a trip to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes Saturday Night at 5 pm on the Pac-12 Network.
