Huskies Fall Late to Colorado in Pac-12 Hoops Opener

Washington loses the lead late in the second half to the Buffaloes on Friday night.

Ahead by seven points with under six minutes remaining, the Washington basketball team made just two of its final 10 shots and saw a lead flip into a 73-69 defeat at Colorado to open Pac-12 Conference play on Friday night in Boulder. 

The Huskies (8-4, 0-1) got another strong outing from forward Keion Brooks Jr., who finished with a team-high 20 points and 8 rebounds, but it wasn't enough. 

The 6-foot-7 former Kentucky standout completed an alley-oop dunk with 5:56 left in the game to push the UW to a 63-56 lead before the Buffaloes mounted a comeback. 

Point guard Sahvir Wheeler, the UW's other Kentucky transfer, added 17 points and 7 assists in his return to the starting lineup. Ex-Portland forward Moses Wood also finished in double-figures with 14 points.

Colorado went on an 8-0 run to grab the lead at 64-63, but Wheeler put the Huskies back on top after the 5-foot-9 guard knocked down a jumper with 2:38 left to go. It would be the last time UW led in the game, even with Wheeler adding four more points before the final buzzer sounded. 

J'Vonne Hadley's layin with 2:23 left to play put the Buffaloes on top for good at 66-65.

UW held Colorado, which came into the game shooting 52.6 percent, in check for a majority of the game before things unraveled late. 

KJ Simpson, the second-leading scorer in the conference behind Brooks, led the way with 21 points, which included a pair of late free throws to ice the game away for CU, and he had 10 rebounds.. 

UW played without senior center Franck Kepnang, who missed his second consecutive game after suffering an injury in the second half against Seattle University, 

Coach Mike Hopkins elected to start 7-foot-1 senior Braxton Meah at center against the Buffaloes in Kepnang's absence. Meah picked up his fifth foul with 2:50 remaining in the game and exited with 7 points and 7 rebounds in 24 minutes of action. 

The defeat ends a run of four consecutive victories for the Huskies, who stay out on the road to face Utah on Sunday at 3 p.m. 

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