BOULDER, Colo.—With the game tightening in the waning minutes, Colorado coach Tad Boyle called a timeout to remind his young squad that even short-handed, Arizona State remained a dangerous team.
They got the message loud and clear.
Andre Roberson and Spencer Dinwiddie each scored 12 points and Colorado downed Arizona State 69-54 Thursday night for its 10th win in 11 games at the Coors Event Center this season.
Austin Dufault and Askia Booker added 11 points apiece for Colorado, which bounced back from conference losses at California and Stanford last week.
“We have a resilient group of guys who believe in themselves and I know as a coach, I believe in them,” Boyle said. “I think it’s going to take more than two losses to two good teams to shake our confidence.”
The Sun Devils (6-12, 2-4) began the game without their leading scorer, Trent Lockett (13.9 ppg), who was held out after spraining his right ankle in last week’s victory over Oregon State. Arizona State finished without head coach Herb Sendek, who was ejected with 4:12 remaining after drawing two technical fouls in a row.
Down by 16 points at the half, the Sun Devils got to within 52-38 on Carrick Felix’s 3-pointer with eight minutes remaining, prompting Boyle to call a timeout.
“I knew (Arizona State) was capable of getting hot,” Boyle said. “I wanted to make sure our guys knew the game wasn’t over. It’s not time to check out here mentally or emotionally, and our guys responded.”
The Buffaloes returned from the break to score a duo of quick baskets on a dunk by Roberson and a layup by Booker, quashing any thought of a sustained comeback by the Sun Devils.
“It was good to come back and get a win,” said Colorado’s Nate Tomlinson, who finished with eight points. “We feel like we are a good team and we can compete for the title in this conference. Taking care of our home court is just something we have to do.”
Chris Colvin, making his first start in nearly two months, opened in place of the injured Lockett and finished with a career-high 15 points. Felix added 13 points and Jonathan Gilling had 12 for the Sun Devils, who have lost three of their last four.
Arizona State was stretched thin by the absence of Lockett.
“We talked a lot before the game about everyone needing to carry a little more weight,” said Sendek. “We needed to get to the foul line, but they were the more aggressive, physical team from the get-go.”
Sendek was heatedly arguing a foul call against Kyle Cain when he was hit with two technicals, leading to his first ejection since his first season at ASU in 2006-07.
“I came out of the box and was arguing a call. I didn’t really move so I got a second one,” he said. “I didn’t really deserve a warning. I was pretty animated and clearly out of the box.”
Colorado, which never trailed, opened up a 19-4 lead midway through the opening period as Arizona State went nine-plus minutes without a field goal. Colvin had a layup to break up the drought with 9:04 remaining in the period, but the Buffaloes continued outscoring the Sun Devils to lead 31-15 at the break.
It was the fewest points in the first half by Arizona State since trailing 38-13 against Arizona on Feb. 25, 2006.
