BOULDER — Tuesday night’s game against Louisiana-Monroe was supposed to be an early Christmas present for Colorado, but ULM did its best to play Scrooge.
CU freshman point guard Nate Tomlinson drained two free throws with 6.6 seconds left as the Buffs avoided a pre-Christmas letdown with a 65-62 victory Tuesday in front of 3,589 at the Coors Events Center.
ULM had a chance to tie or win the game but Jarvis Hill lost the ball out of bounds with 2.4 seconds left. CU’s Casey Crawford added a free throw a second later for the final score as ULM’s desperation 3-pointer from halfcourt at the final buzzer never had a chance.
“We’ve got to get rebounds. We’ve got to take charges. We’ve got to get our nose dirty, get bloodied up, skin our knees for all 40 minutes from everybody, and that’s what we talked about after the game,” Buffaloes coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “We made the right plays at the right time. That’s a positive to build on.”
The Buffaloes (6-3) led by no more than four points at any time in winning their third consecutive home game.
ULM was looking for just its fourth win in 20 games against Big 12 competition, and its first nonleague road victory since an overtime win at Iowa on Nov. 30, 2007.
“There are no moral victories,” ULM head coach Orlando Early said. “They (Colorado) did a great job. They have some great coaches, and they executed when they needed to.”
The Warhawks controlled most of the first half, leading 27-24 at the intermission behind nine points from Malcolm Thomas and eight from Rudy Turner.
CU grabbed its first lead since early in the game on Tomlinson’s 3-pointer with 15:07 left. But just as quick as the Buffs regained the lead, they lost it. Lawrence Gilbert’s layup 10 seconds later gave the Warhawks (3-8) the lead again.
“We found a way to win. Sometimes that’s how you have to do it,” said Austin Dufault, who finished with a career-high 21 points to lead CU. “Louisiana-Monroe’s a good team; don’t take anything away from them, but we can’t do this in the Big 12 by any means.”
Crawford’s 3-pointer with 37 seconds left gave Colorado a 62-60 lead, but Gilbert’s jumper tied the score at 62 with 15 seconds remaining to set up the closing sequence.
Cory Higgins finished with 15 points, and Dwight Thorne added 11 for the Buffs.
Gilbert led the Warhawks with 19 points. Thomas scored 13 and Turner 12.
LOUISIANA-MONROE (3-8)
Turner 4-6 4-4 12, Gilbert 8-14 1-1 19, Averette 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 5-14 3-3 13, Hill 2-3 0-0 4, Forbes 3-11 0-0 8, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Nweke 1-3 0-0 2, Hampton 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 25-55 8-8 62.
COLORADO (6-3)
Jackson-Wilson 0-4 1-4 1, Dufault 9-14 2-2 21, Tomlinson 1-4 2-2 5, Higgins 4-8 7-7 15, Thorne II 5-11 0-2 11, Veal 0-0 0-0 0, Knutson 3-10 0-0 7, Zehnder 0-0 0-0 0, Crawford 1-5 2-4 5, Eckloff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 14-21 65.
Halftime — Louisiana-Monroe 27-24. 3-point goals — Louisiana-Monroe 4-14 (Gilbert 2-4, Forbes 2-7, Thomas 0-1, Hill 0-1, Averette 0-1), Colorado 5-18 (Dufault 1-2, Thorne II 1-3, Crawford 1-3, Tomlinson 1-3, Knutson 1-5, Higgins 0-2). Fouled out — Turner. Rebounds — Louisiana-Monroe 45 (Thomas 14), Colorado 22 (Higgins 7). Assists — Louisiana-Monroe 11 (Averette 4), Colorado 17 (Tomlinson 4). Total fouls — Louisiana-Monroe 23, Colorado 15. A — 3,589.
