BOULDER, Colo.—Jeff Bzdelik had a simple explanation for Colorado’s latest win.
“We played very good defense,” Bzdelik said. “The way you sustain and win games is to defend for 40 minutes.”
Marcus Hall scored 16 points and six assists to lead Colorado to a 63-52 victory over SMU Friday night.
“Another factor was what we got off their turnovers,” Bzdelik said. “We turned their 13 turnovers into 20 points.”
SMU coach Matt Doherty agreed.
“They won the game because they stole the ball and got 20 points off of turnovers,” Doherty said. “If we took better care of the ball I’d like to think we’d have won the game.”
Xavier Silas and Richard Roby added 15 points each for Colorado (8-5), winners of three straight. All 15 of Roby’s points came in the first half.
“Once Richard got in foul trouble he got a little more passive on offense and defense,” Hall said. “He had to change up his shot selection and couldn’t drive as much.”
The Buffaloes shot 52 percent from the field against a team that had held their last two opponents below 30 percent shooting.
“I don’t think we did anything special against him,” Doherty said of SMU’s second half defense on Roby. “I think we made better decisions in our zone defense and we matched up to him a little better.”
The Buffaloes played without guard Dwight Thorne who is out with a deep bone bruise in his right knee.
Alex Malone and Bamba Fall had 11 points for SMU (6-7). Papa Dia added 10 for the Mustangs.
It was the first meeting between the schools in 28 years. They last met on Dec. 8, 1979 in Dallas.
Colorado scored the first six points of the second half, including four from Cory Higgins, to extend its lead to 42-28. SMU missed its first four shots and two free throws by Dia before Malone’s rebound basket with 14:20 left to play made it 42-30. A second put back basket by Malone and his 3-pointer got the Mustangs within 45-37.
Silas scored on a layup with 1:44 to go to make it 58-47, but Fall had a three-point play and two free throws to get the Mustangs within 58-52 with 1:08 remaining. Silas and Hall sealed the game by each hitting two free throws.
“As far as me, I have to pick and choose,” Hall said. “I know when he goes out we have to have another spark.”
Roby had 15 points at halftime on 5-for-7 shooting and three 3-pointers as the Buffaloes turned a 19-17 deficit into a 36-28 lead at the break. Colorado shot 52 percent in the first half.
SMU hurt itself with eight turnovers, including three in the last four minutes that led to three layups. The Mustangs were 3-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc in the opening period.
