DENVER—It was a game of hard fouls and less than spectacular shooting.
“I don’t know how many times I saw my teammate Richard Roby picking himself off the floor, Colorado point Guard Marcus Hall said about physical nature of the game. “And I couldn’t count all the missed shots by both teams.”
Hall scored 18 points and Roby added 15 to lead Colorado to a 54-44 victory over Denver on Tuesday night.
Denver (2-3) shot only 35 percent from the field. Colorado was slightly better at 40 percent.
“It looked like a backyard scrap,” Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “Two teams playing hard and fighting hard.”
Hall was had two 3-pointers and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Roby took only 11 shots in scoring his 15 for Colorado (4-2).
“There are always games like this during the season,” Roby said. “These are games that force you to scratch and claw to get out a win a that’s what we did.”
The Buffaloes have won the last six meetings between the two teams.
David Kummer led Denver with 15 points. The Pioneers also were outrebounded 35-24 and gave up 13 offensive rebounds in losing their second straight game.
“Too many long rebounds. Too many long rebounds that gave them second chances,” Denver coach Joe Scott said. “I don’t think we got one long rebound and you can’t have that.”
Scott was also alarmed by the 15 turnovers committed by the Pioneers, 10 of them coming in the first half.
“The first half is what cost us the game,” Scott fumed. “We coughed up the ball way too many times in the first half.”
In a game where scoring was at a premium, Hall and Roby combined for 18 points as Colorado built a 25-17 lead at the half. The Buffaloes shot 40 percent from the field and turned the ball over eight times themselves against a variety of Denver zones.
Denver managed only 6-of-19 shots and 10 turnovers in its lowest scoring half of the season. Kummer gave the Pioneers their only lead of the half, game, 7-6, hitting the second of two, 3-pointers, early in the game.
Hall erased that quickly with a pull-up jumper and a 3-pointer of his own as part of a 8-2 run to put Colorado ahead 14-9. Roby connected on a pair of jumpers in the last 4:33 to provide the Buffaloes with an eight-point edge at the break.
Denver cut its halftime deficit in half, 31-27, on a 3-pointer by Kyle Lewis with 12:41 left in the second half. Roby’s tip made 33-27 before a four-minute scoring drought ended by two free throws by Cory Higgins put Colorado up 35-27.
Xander McNally snapped a nearly five-minute scoreless stretch for Denver, but they still trailed 35-29. Tyler Bullock’s five straight points got the Pioneers to within 40-35 with 5:38 left.
Denver missed its next five shots while Colorado was getting baskets by Xavier Silas and Hall to push Colorado’s lead to 44-35. The Buffaloes sealed the win with two free throws each from Hall and Higgins.
“This was a good game for us,” said Hall, who also had a career-high five steals. “It will toughen us up.”
