CU holds off California
Simpson, da Silva lead the way as team improves to 15-1 at home
Once again, California refused to go away without a fight.
This time, however, the Colorado men’s basketball team had an answer.
The Buffaloes took another step forward in attempting to put together a late-season surge by holding off the Cal Golden Bears for an 88-78 Pac-12 Conference
victory on Wednesday night at the CU Events Center.
It was the third consecutive win for the Buffs and their seventh consecutive home win against Cal. CU (19-9, 10-7 Pac-12) improved to 15-1 at home.
The Bears erased a 20-point CU lead while defeating the Buffs in Berkeley last month, and on Wednesday Cal trimmed a 14-point Buffs’ lead at halftime down to five midway through the second half. The Golden Bears remained within eight points with 8 minutes, 5 seconds left before CU reeled off a 9-2 run to push the lead back to 15 points. CU point guard KJ Simpson and senior forward Tristan da Silva both turned in superb all-around performances, with Simpson finishing with 27 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Da Silva recorded 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Colorado 88, California 78
Aimaq 5-13 1-3 11, Celestine 4-10 0-0 11, Cone 1-10 4-4 6, Kennedy 6-10 0-0 13, Tyson 9-19 5-5 25, Newell 1-2 1-2 4, Brown 2-4 0-0 6, Curtis 1-1 0-0 2, Larson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-69 11-14 78.
da Silva 7-13 7-7 22, Lampkin 6-11 0-2 12, Hadley 4-8 5-7 13, O’brien 2-7 0-0 6, Simpson 8-15 9-11 27, Diop 0-1 2-2 2, Ruffin 2-3 0-0 6. Totals 29-58 23-29 88.
Colorado 45-31; California 9-31 (Celestine 3-6, Brown 2-3, Tyson 2-7, Newell 1-2, Kennedy 1-4, Aimaq 0-3, Cone 0-6), Colorado 7-16 (O’brien 2-3, Ruffin 2-3, Simpson 2-5, da Silva 1-5); California 29 (Aimaq 11), Colorado 38 (Lampkin 8);
California 10 (Tyson 4), Colorado 18 (Simpson 8); California 20, Colorado 14.