Oklahoma City – The Ricardo Patton era ended this afternoon in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament with his Colorado Buffaloes playing much better than fans in the Ford Center would have expected of a No. 12 seed.
However, Fifth-seeded Texas Tech maintained control in a 81-71 victory, never trailing after a 3-pointer by junior swingman Martin Zeno made it 6-3.
Colorado (7-20) finished with its first 20-loss season since 1988-89 under Tom Miller.
With the victory, Texas Tech (21-11, 9-7) likely clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Raiders swept Texas A&M and beat Kansas during the regular season.
CU got 25 points from senior guard Dominique Coleman and 17 from junior guard Richard Roby. Zeno led Texas Tech with 28 points.
The Buffs did make Tech sweat in the second half. CU scored on six consecutive possessions to pull to within 49-45. But Red Raiders senior guard LucQuente White answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing to reverse the momentum.
With 8:10 remaining, Coleman converted one of two free throws to cut Tech’s lead to 61-56. At that point, the Buffs were hitting 57 percent for the second half to the Red Raiders’ 36 percent.
CU later pulled to within three points but couldn’t catch up.
Texas Tech took a 41-31 halftime lead, aided by a bizarre technical foul called against Colorado early in the game when it was discovered that the No. 41 jersey number of freshman center Sean Kowal had been erroneously recorded at No. 42 for the official scorer.
Colorado played without its second-leading scorer, freshman guard Xavier Silas (12.0), who was serving a one-game suspension for fighting.
Patton finished as CU’s second all-time winningest coach with 184-160 for 12 seasons and included trips to the NCAA Tournament in 1997 and 2003. He was 80-107 in regular season conference games and 6-12 for league tournaments.
Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn confirmed today he has contacted college athletic directors and NBA general managers for permission to formally interview coaches about the CU job.
Bohn, who is here watching the Big 12 Tournament, said each of his requests was accepted, with the stipulation that no interview would take place with a college coach until after that college team has completed its season, including postseason play.
Bohn said he will adhere to the protocol set by individual NBA teams relative to when he can speak to those candidates.
Bohn said no CU player has requested a transfer and he does not expect any players to leave.
Prior to the game, Patton received a commemorative Big 12 basketball from conference commissioner Kevin Weiberg. Patton was the last remaining men’s basketball coach from the original 12 during the Big 12’s inaugural 1996-97 season.
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
