Buffs sweep through state of Oregon
Hot streak continues as CU wallops Beavers
CORVALLIS, ORE. >> At the end of the line for the regular season, the Colorado men’s basketball team finished the job.
The Buffaloes jumped ahead early and never looked back, completing the regular season with a 73-57 victory against Oregon State on Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.
CU ends the regular season with a six-game winning streak, marking the program’s first sixgame win streak within conference play since the start of the 1996-97 Big 12 schedule. After clinching third-place in the Pac12 with Thursday’s win at Oregon, CU secured just its fourth two-game road sweep in 13 seasons in the Pac-12.
The Buffs set a program record with their 22nd win of the regular season, and it also is the first time CU has won its final six regular season games since the Final Four team of 1954-55.
Those are some historic marks for a team that has battled personnel issues all season, with freshman Cody Williams (ankle) and reserve guard Julian Hammond III (knee) once again sidelined at OSU. Nevertheless, the Buffs will have a chance to regroup ahead of its first game in its final Pac-12 tournament on Thursday in Las Vegas.
“It’s a testament to our kids’ toughness, both mental and physical. It’s a testament to their resiliency,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “People ask me all the time throughout the season, the expectations on this and that. I think they picked us fifth in the league. We finished third. To me, that’s always a good barometer of where they thought you would finish and where you did finish.
“This team has overcome so much. We could easily have 23, 24, 25 wins. But we don’t. But to finish up with the school record after all these guys have been through is a testament to their toughness, both mentally and physically, and their resiliency. That’s the bottom line.”
Oregon State notched the game’s first basket, but CU answered with a 7-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way. The Buffs led 41-27 at halftime and, once again, the Beavers scored the first bucket of the secwond half before CU reeled off 11 consecutive points, pushing the advantage to 22 points.
It was a thorough allaround effort for the Buffs. CU shot .475 and held Oregon State to a .375 mark. The Buffs outrebounded the Beavers 43-29 and committed only seven turnovers, the second-lowest total of the season. Eddie Lampkin Jr. recorded his eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Lampkin’s five offensive rebounds was his best total since he had seven in the Pac-12 opener on Dec. 29.
Lampkin recorded three