At least Richard Roby was in midseason form, and his excellence was all the Colorado Buffaloes needed Saturday night in the second game of the inaugural Colorado Classic doubleheader at the Pepsi Center.
With Roby’s 29 points leading the way, CU bagged a 73-54 victory over Saint Mary’s (Calif.) to improve to 2-1.
It was a three-point play by the sophomore guard with 4:39 to play that made it a 63-47 lead for CU.
Coach Ricardo Patton let his CU bench mop up the final minutes, and the action was highlighted by consecutive dunks from Marcus King-Stockton as the Buffs won going away.
CU’s bench scored 27 points while the Gaels got only 11 points from their nonstarters.
“It’s still good and bad,” Patton said. “In every game we have played we have done some good things, but we have areas we have to improve on. For this early in the season, the effort is there.”
Patton said he wanted a fast-paced game to offset the size advantage the Gaels had with 7-foot-1 Blake Sholberg, 7-footer Reda Rhalimi and 6-10 Daniel Kickert.
The Buffs overcame that disadvantage inside with a 47-42 advantage in rebounding, led by Roby and Calvin Williams with seven rebounds each.
“We had to have a fast pace,” Patton said. “We wanted to extend our defense a little bit and not play 40 minutes in the half court for 40 minutes against those big guys.”
“We didn’t want to play slow down with them, but the pace probably contributed to our turnovers,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “I said we’d learn a lot in our first four games, but I know our guard play has to get a whole lot better.”
The Gaels (1-1) committed 22 turnovers and hit only 4-of-17 attempts from 3-point range while trying to catch up.
With timely shots by Roby, the Buffs maintained at least a nine-point lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half.
CU’s quickness stalled any rally Saint Mary’s tried to muster. The Gaels wilted as the second half moved into the last 10 minutes and the Buffs took command on both backboards.
As the Gaels struggled with five straight trips down the floor without a point, Dominique Coleman’s drive for a layup opened a 54-40 lead for CU.
After a sluggish first five minutes, the Buffs picked up the pace and the Gaels couldn’t keep up.
A three-point play by Roby helped put CU ahead 14-7.
Roby finished the first 20 minutes with 17 points.
SAINT MARY’S (1-1)
Bond 0-2 0-0 0, Kickert 8-16 3-3 22, Sholberg 0-0 2-4 2, Golden 0-2 0-0 0, Rhalimi 1-2 0-0 2, Collins 7-17 2-6 16, DaSilva 1-4 0-0 3, McCaughey 0-0 0-0 0, Walberg 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter 1-2 1-3 3, O’Leary 0-3 0-0 0, Simpson 1-5 1-4 3, White 0-1 3-4 3. Totals 19-54 12-24 54.
COLORADO (2-1)
Osborn 1-7 1-3 3, Copeland 4-7 0-0 9, Eddy 1-3 0-0 3, McGee 0-1 0-0 0, Obazuaye 1-5 1-2 3, Senger 2-3 0-0 4, Hall 1-5 0-2 2, Arrington 0-0 0-0 0, Freeman 1-4 0-0 2, King-Stockton 2-3 0-0 4, Roby 10-20 5-5 29, Coleman 5-10 0-1 10, Williams 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 30-73 7-13 73.
Halftime – Colorado 40-26. 3-point goals – Saint Mary’s 4-17 (Kickert 3-6, DaSilva 1-3, Bond 0-1, Golden 0-1, White 0-1, Collins 0-1, O’Leary 0-2, Simpson 0-2), Colorado 6-18 (Roby 4-7, Copeland 1-2, Eddy 1-2, Hall 0-1, Coleman 0-1, Freeman 0-1, Osborn 0-4). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Saint Mary’s 42 (Collins 11), Colorado 47 (Williams 7). Assists – Saint Mary’s 4 (Collins, DaSilva, Hunter, McCaughey 1), Colorado 18 (Hall 8). Total fouls – Saint Mary’s 17, Colorado 21. A – 5,035.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
