WACO, Texas — Playing with great defensive intensity, Colorado appeared on the verge of making its last Big 12 trip to Baylor a memorable one.
But the Buffaloes watched a 17-point lead slip away as Baylor sharpshooter LaceDarius Dunn buried one big shot after another Saturday.
Dunn nailed eight straight free throws in the final 1:27 and finished with 26 points, leading the Bears to a 70-66 win over the Buffaloes before 6,095 fans at the Ferrell Center.
It was a tough loss for Colorado, which has dropped its last four Big 12 games after winning the first three. The Buffaloes (14-8, 3-4) have lost their last three games to Oklahoma, Kansas and Baylor by seven points or fewer.
“I liked our guys’ intensity, focus and effort,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “I can’t fault them for anything except not making enough shots. We’ve been right there on the road. It’s a long season, and we’re not counting ourselves out of it. It’s time to regroup and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and go get them.”
The Buffaloes raced to a 12-2 lead and stretched it to 35-18 late in the first half. Colorado held the Bears (14-6, 4-3) to 33.3 percent shooting and forced 13 turnovers to go into halftime with a 35-21 advantage.
But the Bears scored the first seven points of the second half and kept pushing until they grabbed their first lead of the game at 58-57 when Dunn nailed a short jumper with 2:58 remaining.
A.J. Walton followed with a 3-pointer, and the Buffaloes played catch-up the rest of the way. Colorado pulled within two points four times in the final 1:38 and had a chance to take the lead when Cory Higgins missed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining.
“I’d shoot it again if I had the chance,” said Higgins, who finished with 16 points. “But that was just one shot. We should have had the game won by then. We just couldn’t get stops when we needed to and couldn’t make shots when we needed to.”
Dunn hit six straight free throws in the final 17.2 seconds to seal Baylor’s win. The Bears held Colorado to 35.4 percent shooting overall and 4-of-16 shooting from 3-point range.
“We got on our heels in the second half,” Boyle said. “In the first half, we got the ball inside and to the high post and attacked the basket, and that’s why we had success.”
Alec Burks led CU with 20 points, but Burks and Higgins combined to go only 12-of-34 from the field.
The Buffaloes play Tuesday at home against Iowa State.
“We know we can win close games,” Colorado guard Levi Knutson said. “We know there are a lot of games left to play and we’ve got a chance to make it up this week, and we’ve got to be ready to play Tuesday.”
FG FT Reb
CU (14-8, 3-4) Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Dufault 26 2-5 0-2 2-5 0 3 4
Tomlinson 16 1-3 1-2 0-1 2 2 3
Relphorde 27 2-7 0-2 1-3 1 4 4
Burks 34 6-19 8-8 2-6 1 3 20
Higgins 34 6-15 2-2 1-5 2 3 16
Sharpe 7 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Coney 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Roberson 27 3-7 3-4 10-11 1 4 9
Knutson 29 3-9 2-2 2-4 1 4 10
Totals 200 23-65 16-22 19-38 8 24 66
Percentages: FG .354, FT .727. 3-point goals: 4-16, .250 (Knutson 2-4, Higgins 2-5, Roberson 0-1, Tomlinson 0-1, Relphorde 0-1, Burks 0-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3 (Dufault 2, Higgins). Turnovers: 10 (Burks 4, Higgins 2, Roberson 2, Knutson, Tomlinson). Steals: 12 (Knutson 4, Burks 3, Roberson, Sharpe, Dufault, Relphorde, Tomlinson). FG FT Reb
BU (14-6, 4-3) Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
PJones 38 6-12 2-4 3-6 2 2 14
AJones 27 1-4 0-0 1-5 0 1 3
Morgan 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Walton 28 3-4 0-2 1-3 4 3 8
Dunn 36 6-18 11-11 2-7 6 3 26
Ellis 22 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 3 2
Acy 32 4-5 5-7 1-9 0 2 13
Love 14 2-4 0-0 2-3 0 2 4
Totals 200 23-49 18-24 12-38 12 16 70
Percentages: FG .469, FT .750. 3-point goals: 6-13, .462 (Dunn 3-7, Walton 2-2, A. Jones 1-2, Ellis 0-1, Love 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 5 (Ellis 2, Acy 2, P. Jones). Turnovers: 18 (Walton 4, Acy 4, Dunn 3, Love 2, A. Jones 2, P. Jones 2, Ellis). Steals: 3 (Dunn, Acy, Ellis).Colorado 35 31 — 66
Baylor 21 49 — 70
A — 6,095.
