Jabari Walker scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Tuesday night as Colorado erased an early 15-point deficit and pulled off an 82-78 upset of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.
Keeshawn Barthelemy added 19 points, including four crucial free throws in the last minute, and Tristan da Silva chipped in 15. The Buffaloes (13-6, 5-4 Pac-12) converted 50 percent of their field-goal attempts for the night, including 57.7 percent in the second half, and sank 20 of 22 free throws.
Four players scored in double figures for the Ducks (12-7, 5-3), led by Quincy Guerrier with 22. Will Richardson added 17, De’Vion Harmon tallied 14 points and Jacob Young contributed 11.
Harmon stroked a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to draw Oregon within 81-78, but Evan Battey sealed the outcome for Colorado by canning a foul shot with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Oregon led for most of the first 30 minutes, but the Buffaloes gradually rallied and took the lead for good when Walker sank a layup off a Barthelemy feed for a 64-63 edge with 8:30 on the clock.
Barthelemy hit two foul shots with 47 seconds left to give Colorado a 77-70 advantage. That was enough to hold off a Ducks team that entered with a six-game winning streak that included road victories against nationally ranked foes UCLA and Southern California.
The Buffaloes had lost three of their previous four games.
Oregon started the Tuesday game as though it were going to rout Colorado in the same manner it blew out Washington on Saturday, when it took leads of 40-8, 48-13 and 55-17 before settling for an 84-56 home win.
The Ducks ripped off 13 straight points to start this one, forcing Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle to call a timeout before his team scored a point. The margin reached 20-5 on Guerrier’s three-point play at the 14:22 mark of the half.
However, Colorado found its footing soon after that and worked its way back into contention. The visitors knocked the lead down to 31-26 on a put-back by Da Silva with 4:55 left in the half, then used a 3-pointer by Walker with 36 seconds remaining to go into halftime down 42-37.
–Field Level Media
