GREELEY — Brian Stafford scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, leading Denver to a 71-65 victory over Northern Colorado on Wednesday night.
Royce O’Neale added 14 points and Brett Olson 11 for Denver (7-2), which improved to 3-1 on the road. The Pioneers scored 25 points off 18 turnovers and finished 11-of-32 on 3-point attempts.
Tate Unruh led Northern Colorado (3-6) with 19 points. The Bears had been off since Dec. 3 and showed rustiness, though they outscored the Pioneers 30-18 inside the paint and 18-7 on second-chance opportunities.
DU did not get its first lead of the game until 3-pointers by Stafford and Rob Lewis put the Pioneers up 32-31 early in the second half. The Pioneers extended it to 37-31 before Paul Garnica, who finished with 18 points, made Northern Colorado’s first shot of the half.
Northern Colorado closed the gap to 44-42 on Brandan Keane’s hook shot with 12:02 remaining, but went scoreless for more than seven minutes. DU went on a 10-0 run during that stretch, which was capped by Travis Hallam’s layup that made the score 54-42.
Unruh’s 3-pointer got the Bears as close as 60-54. Stafford made four free throws in the final 1:29 to seal DU’s win.
“We didn’t seem ready to play in the first half, but we came out in the second half and played to our capabilities,” said DU coach Joe Scott. “Our defense got better in the second half, and that translated to taking care of the ball and making shots on the other end.
“We’re 3-1 on the road during nonconference play, and I’m proud of the way our guys fought tonight to pull out the win.”
No 2. Ohio State 82, South Carolina Upstate 58 COLUMBUS, Ohio — Deshaun Thomas scored 23 points and Ohio State welcomed back star forward Jared Sullinger.
Sullinger, who had missed Ohio State’s last two games with back spasms, entered the game at the 14:37 mark of the first half. He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The win was Ohio State’s 31st straight at home, the second-longest streak ever at the school behind only the 50 in a row from 1959-64.
No. 6 Baylor 69, Bethune-Cookman 42 WACO, Texas — Pierre Jackson scored 12 points to lead a balanced scoring attack and had consecutive assists on slam dunks that put Baylor ahead to stay.
Jackson had a steal then a bounce pass to Deuce Bello for a dunk, and turned another Bethune-Cookman turnover right after that into a pass to Anthony Jones for another slam. That was part of an early 10-0 run that put the Bears (8-0) ahead to stay.
Baylor has won its first eight games for the first time under 10th-year coach Scott Drew. The Bears have won 25 consecutive non-conference home games over the past five seasons.
While the Bears had plenty of high-flying dunks, the highlight for many fans was Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III being honored at halftime. He is the school’s first Heisman winner.
Women
Denver 73, Minnesota 62 Kaetlyn Murdoch scored 21 points and the Pioneers (8-3) improved to 6-0 this season at home.
Denver fell behind early in the game; Minnesota opened with a 10-4 run. But the Pioneers put together a 23-6 run that took up 8:18 in the middle of the first half and held on for the win.
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