Cardinal’s da Silva hurt as Buffs rally

BOULDER, Colorado — A classic comeback by Colorado, a fivepoint play by Stanford, a valiant effort by the shorthanded Cardinal and a historic start by the 24thranked Buffaloes.

All of that was overshadowed by the unity the teams showed after a scary scene when Stanford leading scorer Oscar da Silva slammed his head on the floor while trying to prevent a breakaway basket by 262pound Colorado center Evan Battey.

“I think it was pretty cool that the other team showed a lot of affection, a lot of emotion when Oscar went down,” Stanford’s Jaiden Delaire said.

Da Silva needed several stitches to close a deep cut above his left eye and missed the rest of the game, which Colorado won 8174, storming back from a 16point deficit in the thirdlargest secondhalf comeback in the Buffaloes’ history.

“Accidents happen in basketball,“said McKinley Wright IV, who led Colorado with 21 points. “I’ve known Evan for three years now . ... He didn’t do it on purpose at all.”

After several minutes, da Silva was helped to his feet and taken to get stitches, and a crying Battey comforted several of da Silva’s teammates — and vice versa at midcout.

Colorado coach Tad Boyle asked Wright to call both teams together in prayer, and Stanford coach Jerod Haase asked “for both teams to keep playing hard,” Wright said.

“Our coach told both teams that Oscar was going to be OK and he told both teams to compete as hard as they can and just finish up the game,” Delaire said. “So he tried to make the other team not feel as bad and give us some encouraging words to continue the game.”

D’Shawn Schwartz added 20 points for Colorado, and all of Tyler Bey’s 11 points and nine of his dozen boards came in the second half when the Buffaloes shot 70% from the floor, 100% from behind the arc and 85% from the stripe.

That followed a first half in which the Buffs shot 28% from the floor, 23% from 3point range and 54% from the line.

At 195 overall and atop the Pac12 at 83, the Buffaloes are off to the best start in their history.

Stanford (167, 55) got 18 points from Tyrell Terry, 14 from Spencer Jones and 12 from Isaac White.

Cliff Grassmick / Associated Press Colorado and Stanford players gather at midcourt after Cardinal leading scorer Oscar da Silva slammed his head on the court in a scary collision with the Buffaloes’ big center, Evan Battey.