BOULDER, Colo.—Richard Roby and first-year coach Jeff Bzdelik agree that the transition for Colorado is getting easier.
“Slowly and surely we’re getting better,” Bzdelik said. “We’re becoming a little bit more instinctive.”
Marcus Hall scored 21 points and Roby added 18, leading Colorado to a 78-58 victory over Colorado Christian Tuesday night.
“It’s getting better and better,” Roby said of the adjustment period. ” I missed a lot of easy shots today that I usually make. I just have to make sure I go up there strong and focus all the way until the ball goes through the hole.”
Hall was 4-for-6 on 3-pointers. Roby scored 11 of his points in the second half when Colorado (3-2) blew open the game.
The Buffaloes played without Xavier Silas, who has a lower left leg contusion. Caleb Patterson and Levi Knutson made their first collegiate starts.
“If we ever can finish around the rim, we’d be better offensively,” Bzdelik said. “Still, we take too many possessions off defensively. We just need to keep getting better.”
Rory Morgan and Brian Stamer led Colorado Christian (1-2), a Division 2 program in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, with 13 points. The Cougars have back-to-back road losses.
Colorado Christian made a game of it for about 13 minutes and held a 12-10 lead with 12:43 left in the first half after three straight baskets by Morgan. The game was tied at 22 after a free throw by Stamer with 6:55 left.
Colorado took control to close the first half with a 15-5 run. Knutson buried a 3-pointer with 6:21 left and Hall’s layup off a steal put the Buffaloes ahead by five. Colorado scored the last six points of the half, four coming from Cory Higgins, to take a 37-27 lead into intermission.
“We had three lapses, one of them at the end of the half and another of three or four minutes in the second half,” Colorado Christian coach David Daniels said. “We aren’t a team that plays really well from behind because we are really structured offensively.”
Colorado Christian got as close as seven points twice in the second half, the last coming when Jordan Long’s 3-pointer made it 41-34 with 16:10 left. Roby’s trey seconds later increased Colorado’s lead by 10 points and began a 13-2 run that included a 3-pointer by Hall to put the Buffaloes ahead 54-36.
Hall’s fourth 3-pointer of the game with 4:31 remaining gave Colorado its biggest lead, 68-47. Colorado Christian never got closer than 16 points the rest of the game.
