Cal Sports Report

Pac-12 in NCAA tournament: Colorado Advances

Buffaloes face No. 7 seed Florida next. Three other Pac-12 teams play Thursday

Jake Curtis

Pac-12 in NCAA tournament: Colorado Advances
Pac-12 in NCAA tournament: Colorado Advances /

Colorado barely made it into the NCAA tournament field, but the Buffaloes are still alive after eliminating Boise State 60-53 in a preliminary-round, First Four, game in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday night.

The 10th-seeded Buffaloes (25-10) set a school record for wins in a season with their 10th victory in their last 11 games, and they assured the win with excellent free-throw shooting down the stretch.

Colorado advances to the first round where the Buffaloes will face No. 7-seed Florida (24-11) in Indianapolis on Friday.

The three other Pac-12 teams in the NCAA tournament -- Arizona, Oregon and Washington State -- will play their first-round games on Thursday. No. 2-seeded Arizona takes on Long Beach State, 11th-seeded Oregon goes against South Carolina and No. 7 seed Washington State plays the final game of the day against Drake.

Tristan da Silva was the star for Colorado on Wednesday.  He scored 20 points, and hit three three-pointers in the second half, the last one coming with 4:17 left that reduced a four-point Boise State lead to one point.

Buffaloes guard K.J. Simpson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and his two free throws with 3:42 to go put Colorado ahead to stay.

Colorado was 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final four minutes, and that includes 6-for-6 in the final 24 seconds to preserve the lead.

This Eddie Lampkin's bucket to beat the shot clock in the final minute was critical.

Tyson Degenhart, a first-team all-Mountain West selection who was Boise State's top scorer at 17.0 points per game, was limited to six points on 3-for-10 shooting.

 Cover photo of KJ Simpson by Rick Osentoski, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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