J’Vonne Hadley amassed 19 points and 11 rebounds, KJ Simpson scored 17 points and Colorado beat Arizona State 82-70 on Thursday in Boulder, Colo.
Tristan da Silva finished with 15 points and Cody Williams contributed 11 points in his return to the lineup for the Buffaloes (16-7, 7-5 Pac-12). Colorado ended a two-game skid and improved to 13-0 at home.
Frankie Collins scored 18 points, Adam Miller added 14, Jamiya Neal scored 12 and Shawn Phillips Jr. had 10 for Arizona State (11-12, 5-7), which has lost five straight.
Colorado extended a nine-point halftime lead to 57-40 during the Sun Devils’ 5:14 scoring drought. Arizona State missed eight consecutive shots and turned it over twice during the scoreless stretch before Neal sank a 3-pointer. That started an 8-0 run as the Sun Devils pulled within nine.
Neal hit two free throws and Collins made a layup to cut the Buffaloes’ lead to 63-56. The teams traded five-point runs and Arizona State had a chance to get closer but turned it over on a fast break with 3:12 left.
A three-point play by Hadley left made it 73-63, but Miller answered with a 3-pointer and Collins hit a layup to cut the gap to five with 2:13 left.
Hadley sank a 3-pointer 33 seconds later to spark a 7-0 run that sealed the win.
Colorado scored the first 12 points of the game and led 21-3 with 13:56 left in the first half. It was still an 18-point lead five minutes later before the Sun Devils started to crawl back into the game.
Gaffney hit a pair of 3-pointers and Neal also drained one from deep during an 11-0 run that cut the deficit to 31-24. The Buffaloes stretched the lead to 37-26 on a dunk by Williams, but Arizona answered with seven straight points to get within 37-33 with 2:48 left in the first half.
Colorado closed out strong to take a 44-35 lead into halftime.
–Field Level Media
