#20 Colorado Buffaloes Upset #10 Oregon Ducks In A Thriller
By Andrew Dill
Jan 5, 2014; Boulder, CO, USA; Oregon Ducks forward Mike Moser (0) defends Colorado Buffaloes forward Wesley Gordon (1) in the first half at Coors Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Buffaloes came away with a crazy win over the Oregon Ducks Sunday afternoon at the Coors Event Center by the final score of 100-91. Junior guard Askia Booker scored a career-high 27 points while back-court teammate Spencer Dinwiddie tallied for 23 points. Xavier Johnson and Josh Scott would both account for 15 points each for the Buffaloes, while Xavier Talton came off of the bench with 8 points.
The Oregon Ducks would start off the game a three-point basketball from Joseph Young to put the Ducks up early. Colorado Buffaloes center Josh Scott would respond with the deep two just under the three-point line, banking in his shot. UNLV transfer Mike Moser would keep the Ducks hot early, knocking down a three of his own to take the 8-4 lead. Buffs Askia Booker would go on a 4-0 run of his own, knocking down two free throws and a jumper to tie the game at eight.
Colorado would take advantage of a Oregon turnover as freshman Jaron Hopkins scooped the ball up and laid it in for Colorado’s first lead of the game at 10-8. Joseph Young would keep at it, as the guard would convert his and-one attempt and knock down a three on Oregon’s next possession to bring the Ducks lead to six. Oregon’s three-point attempts kept falling, this time from guard Jason Calliste as Oregon took the 19-12 lead.
Oregon looked to be pulling away early, as Damyean Dotson would be fouled and knocked down both free throws from the charity stripe to push the lead to nine. Colorado struck back as Xavier Johnson was fouled and knocked down both free throws, followed by a Josh Scott trip to the line where he converted both free throws to trail only by five, 21-16. After a Jason Calliste jumper, Buffs guard Spencer Dinwiddie went on a tear. The junior would be fouled on a three-point attempt as he went to the line knocking down all three.. On the ensuing Colorado possession, Dinwiddie would take it to the hole for a lay-up to bring the lead down to two, 23-21 as Colorado went on a 9-2 run.
Richard Amardi would answer with a wide-open slam to silence the Coors Event Center crowd. Spencer Dinwiddie would be fouled on Colorado’s next possession and went a perfect 2-for-2 at the line to keep the Buffs within two. The teams would trade buckets back-and-fourth but Colorado looked to be pulling away with an Xavier Johnson and-one, putting the Buffs up 37-31. Mike Moser of the Ducks answered with four points of his own, two free-throws and a put-back to trail by three. Jason Calliste would knock down a huge three with 0.6 seconds remaining to send the Ducks into halftime only trailing Colorado by two, 44-42. Both teams were perfect at the line as Colorado shot 13-for-13 and Oregon shooting 5-for-5.
Richard Amardi would start the second half with a hook shot to tie the game at 44 apiece and Mike Moser would push the Oregon Ducks to five after converting an and-one, 53-48. Colorado would come back yet again on an 8-0 run led by two three-pointers from Spencer Dinwiddie and Jaron Hopkins to take the lead 64-62. Dinwiddie would cap a 16-4 CU run with two free-throws putting Colorado up 72-66. As soon as Colorado looked to be pulling away again, Oregon would answer as Dotson would hit another three to bring it within five.
The Buffaloes would stay resilient pushing their lead to nine as Jaron Hopkins fed Xavier Johnson for the nice dunk, 89-80. Later in the half with the Buffs up 94-86, Joseph Young would knock down a big three to bring the lead within five. Colorado would control the ball from that point on by knocking down 6-of-8 from the line to hold off the Ducks comeback, 100-91.
The Buffs turned the ball over a whopping 16 times but made up for it at the line, knocking down 33-of-39 free-throw attempts, 84.6% percent.
The Colorado Buffaloes (13-2, 2-0 in PAC-12) will be on the road to take on the Washington State Cougars Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM MT.