Bruins hold off Buffs down the stretch

LOS ANGELES >> The frustrations continued for the Colorado men’s basketball team. And the hole the Buffaloes have dug for themselves in terms of a potential NCAA Tournament bid continues to get deeper.

A second-half comeback went for naught on Thursday for the Buffs, as UCLA held on down the stretch to hand CU a 64-60 defeat in the final Pac-12 Conference visit to Pauley Pavilion.

It was CU’S fourth loss in the past five games and was UCLA’S sixth consecutive victory against the Buffs, who have lost nine of their past 10 games against the Bruins.

The Buffs shot a robust .571 in the first half (12-for-21) but couldn’t get out of their own way, committing nine first-half turnovers. UCLA took advantage of the generosity to post a 15-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the first half alone while building a 38-29 lead at the break.

Two more turnovers by CU in the first two minutes helped the Bruins push their lead to 14 points at 43-29 before the Buffs finally started chipping away. UCLA went over five minutes without a field goal while the Buffs combined continued strong shooting with a sudden remedy for the turnover problems.

CU (16-9, 7-7 Pac-12) tied the game at 51-51 on a KJ Simpsonto-tristan da Silva dunk with a little less than 7 minutes remaining, and the game was tied again at 54-54 on a da Silva 3-pointer with about 4:50 to play. UCLA, however, responded with a 9-2 run, giving the Bruins a 63-56 lead with 2:06 remaining.

The Buffs remained within 6360 on a driving basket by freshman Cody Williams, and a defensive stop gave CU a final chance after taking a timeout with 17 seconds remaining. However, a driving attempt from da Silva was off the mark, and UCLA’S Lazar Stefanovic hit a free throw with 2.1 seconds left to seal the Bruins’ win.

Williams shook off a minislump over the previous three games by going 8-for-9 with 18 points, while da Silva hit three 3-pointers and finished with 16 points.

Simpson went 1-for-7 and finished with a season-low four points, although he also recorded seven rebounds and five assists.

CU outshot the Bruins .522 to .444, but the Buffs couldn’t overcome UCLA’S lopsided 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers.