Colorado Buffaloes Escape With A Win Over The Stanford Cardinal, 59-56

Mar 5, 2014; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward Dwight Powell (33) drives to the basket past Colorado Buffaloes forward Wesley Gordon (1, right) and guard Xavier Talton (3, left) during the first half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Buffaloes (21-9, 10-7 in Pac-12 play) escaped with a big win over the Stanford Cardinal Wednesday night by the final score of 59-56. According to Joe Lunardi, Colorado was currently a bubble team slated to be one of the last four teams in. This game was important to the Buffs and they came out in the second half and sealed the deal.

The game came down to the final minutes as Askia Booker forced Chasson Randle into turning the ball over with a steal, setting him up for free-throws. Booker would only hit 1-of-2 as Colorado took the 56-54 lead. Josh Scott would haul down a missed shot attempt from Stanford and was immediately fouled, knocking down both attempts to go up 58-54.

Colorado would basically play a prevent defense where they led Randle run all the way down the court without getting touched and converted the easy layup to trail by two with less than ten seconds remaining. Colorado would inbound the ball to Xavier Talton and was fouled. Talton was only a 66.0% percent free-throw shooter heading to the line where he would knock down just 1-of-2 to go up three. Stanford would give the ball to Randle who missed the three at the end to give the Buffaloes the 59-56 win.

Josh Scott led the Buffaloes scoring a team-high 17 points on 4-of-6 shooting, connecting with 9-of-11 free-throw attempts. The forward would also collect 11 rebounds, four of which were offensive. Chasson Randle was a tough player to match-up with for the Buffaloes, as the Cardinal scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting, going 4-of-7 from behind-the-arc.

Buffaloes forward Xavier Johnson would put together a nice game for the Buffaloes as well. The sophomore would record 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting, collecting 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Stanford’s power forward Dwight Powell had no real impact on the game other than costing the team fouled. He would finish the game with 8 points while fouling out late in the second-half.

The Colorado Buffaloes (21-9, 10-7 in Pac-12 play) will play their final regular season game Saturday afternoon at the Haas Pavilion, taking on the California Golden Bears. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 PM ET, 4:30 PM MT.