LAS VEGAS — Eddie Lampkin Jr. made one of two free-throw attempts with 4.6 seconds left to secure Colorado’s 58-52 victory over Washington State in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal game Friday night.
Third-seeded Colorado (24-9) will play No. 4 seed Oregon (22-11) in the championship game of the last Pac-12 basketball tournament in history. The conference is disbanding after this school year.
Colorado last played in the conference championship game in 2021, losing to Oregon State 70-68.
Lampkin, who had nine points and six rebounds, was fouled after rebounding a missed free throw by Jalen Wells on a one-and-one attempt with five seconds left.
He missed the first free throw but made the second to put the Buffaloes ahead 56-52.
Colorado’s KJ Simpson stole the baseball pass down the court by Washington State (24-9) and was fouled. His two free throws with two seconds remaining closed the scoring.
Simpson led Colorado with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Tristan da Silva had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.
No. 22 Washington State — the second seed of the tournament — was led by Isaac Jones’ 13 points.
Kymany Houinsou’s layup cut Colorado’s lead to 53-52 with 1:56 remaining.
The Buffaloes’ Luke O’Brien responded with a jumper in the paint 32 seconds later.
The teams traded turnovers before Wells, who had 11 points and seven rebounds, missed a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.
Simpson was fouled and he missed the front end of the one-and-one free-throw situation.
Rather than allow Washington State to take a 3-pointer to potentially tie the game, Colorado’s Bangot Dak fouled Wells.
Wells missed the free throw that led to Lampkin rebounding the ball and making the free throw with 4.6 seconds left to make it a two-possession game.
The Buffaloes took a 40-31 lead with 12:41 remaining on a dunk by Dak.
Washington State then went on an 11-3 run to cut the lead to 43-42 with 9:04 left.
Jones’ jumper in the lane with 3:11 remaining gave the Cougars their first lead (50-49) since 8:16 was left in the first half.
The game was tight throughout the first half with neither team leading by more than five points.
Colorado led 27-23 at halftime behind da Silva’s eight points.
–Javier Morales, Field Level Media
