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Thursday, February 11
Boulder, Colo.
8:00 PM

University of Colorado

88
vs
81

Washington State

Buffs Take 2-OT Thriller From Washington State, 88-81

Buffs Take 2-OT Thriller From Washington State, 88-81

February 12, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk

BOULDER — With the Colorado Buffaloes' NCAA Tournament hopes ostensibly teetering on the brink Thursday night, a George King buzzer beater at the end of overtime gave the Buffs new life.

The Buffs didn't waste the opportunity. Colorado then outscored visiting Washington State 10-3 in the second extra period and the Buffs claimed a vital 88-81 win. The win improved the Buffs to 18-7 overall and 7-5 in the Pac-12 while also bumping them up into a tie for fourth in the conference standings.

Saturday, they'll have a chance to break the tie with one of those teams when Washington visits the CEC for a noon game.

"That was a big-time win for us, and we needed it," said CU head coach Tad Boyle, who watched his team scrape out the win without the services of injured big man Josh Scott (ankle). "We showed great toughness through the overtimes. We didn't play our best game, but it's a testament to how good this league is. It was a good win and we'll take it."

Truth is, the Buffs came oh-so-close to taking their third straight loss after watching a 10-point lead in the second half melt to nothing. When WSU's Que Johnson hit one of two free throws with 10.8 seconds remaining in the first overtime to give the Cougars a 78-75 lead, not many in the Coors Events Center gave the Buffs much of a chance.

But King rebounded Johnson's miss on his second free throw and dribbled the length of the floor. He angled to the right wing and with WSU's 6-10 Josh Hawkinson in his face, launched a fadeaway jumper directly in front of CU's bench. When it swished through the net as the buzzer sounded, the bench — and the entire Coors Events Center Crowd — erupted.

"When it got halfway there, I thought 'this thing might have a chance,'" said King, who finished with 21 points and nine rebounds in 41 minutes of playing time. "He (Hawkinson) was really close. That's why I had to fade a little bit."

Given a second chance, the Buffs took care of business. Wesley Gordon scored the go-ahead bucket on a big assist from Xavier Talton with 2:05 left in the second overtime and a minute later, Gordon boosted CU's lead to 84-80 with an offensive rebound and basket.

King then grabbed a rebound of a Cougar miss on WSU's next possession and Talton sealed the win with four free throws in the final 28 seconds.

Gordon did his part in Scott's absence, finishing with a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double in 45 minutes on the floor. Talton added 13 points, five rebounds and three steals while Josh Fortune scored 11 and Thomas Akyazili had a career-high 10.

WSU's Johnson led all scorers with 25 points while Hawkinson had 18 points — 11 in the second half — and 13 rebounds.

"Keeping all of this in perspective, I'm proud of our guys," WSU coach Ernie Kent said. "George (King) was all over the top of that shot, 6-10 guy hanging on you as you're fading out of bounds. Hats off to him, heck of a shot."

In both meetings between the two teams this year, free throws have played a huge role. In a 75-70 CU win earlier this season, the Cougars missed 11 charity attempts. Thursday night, they missed eight, none bigger than Johnson's final miss.

"We took advantage of the chance Washington State gave us, and thank goodness," Boyle said. "This would have been a heartbreaking loss, devastating, for this program."

While Boyle welcomed the win, he was by no means overly pleased with his team's overall effort. The Buffs allowed WSU to shoot better than 50 percent from the field (32 for 63) and also came out on the short end of the rebound battle, 40-36.

But, the Buffs did address their turnover issues. One game after committing 24 in a loss at Oregon State, they turned it over just eight times against the Cougars, with none in the two overtime periods.

"It made up for our lack of defense and rebounding," Boyle said. "We got outrebounded, and that's not acceptable. We didn't guard well. They came into our building and shot 50 percent. That's not acceptable. … But we made just enough shots and we toughed it out."

The Buffs led by as many as 13 in the first half, had a nine-point cushion at the half, 41-32 and led by 10, 51-41, with 13 minutes to go.

But an 11-2 run fueled by nine points from Hawkinson closed the gap and set up a see-saw final few minutes of regulation, a stretch that saw five ties and five lead changes.

"We just made plays when we had to," Talton said. "Then we took care of the ball. If we had turned the ball over more, I don't think we would have had the same outcome."

FLETCHER STATUS: CU junior Tre'Shaun Fletcher played just six minutes because of a sore ankle. Fletcher twisted his ankle in Wednesday's practice. Boyle said it became apparent after only a few minutes on the floor that Fletcher wasn't full speed and he chose not to play him the rest of the game.

NOTABLE: Talton started for the second straight game and his 13 points tied his season high. … Scott saw his string of 37 consecutive starts come to an end. Boyle said his big man is still "getting better and is day to day." … Gordon's double-double was his second straight, fourth of the season and ninth of his career. He also now has 53 blocks this year, tying him with Ted Allen on CU's charts for eighth-best in a single season.

UP NEXT: The Buffs play host to Washington on Saturday in a noon game at the Coors Events Center. The Huskies (15-9, 7-5) are coming off a 90-82 loss at Utah on Wednesday.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu