BOULDER, Colo.—Andre Roberson has been a valuable scorer for Colorado.
The Buffaloes sophomore forward has also proven his worth as an aggressive rebounder in the Buffaloes’ first season in the Pac-12.
“He is simply amazing in both aspects of his game,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said of Roberson, who averages a double-double with 11.1 points and 11 rebounds. “What’s even more amazing is his rebound-per-minute ratio.”
Roberson had 16 points and 15 rebounds in 31 minutes as Colorado remained unbeaten at home in Pac-12 play with an 82-60 victory over Oregon State on Thursday night.
“I do what I can to help the team,” said Roberson, who was 6 for 10 shooting and is the Pac 12’s No. 1 active rebounder with 543. “I will be as aggressive going after rebounds as I am making shots.”
It was Roberson’s 14th double-double of the season and 17th of his career. Askia Booker had a career-high 15 points for the Buffaloes (15-7, 7-3 Pac-12).
Colorado, 6-0 at home in the conference, scored 22 fast-break points. It had 16 points off 15 turnovers by Oregon State.
“We were very good at attacking their 1-3-1 zone,” Boyle said. “The best way to beat a zone is to beat it down the floor and not allow it to be set up. And we did just that.”
Jared Cunningham and Devon Collier had 12 points each for the Beavers (14-8, 4-6), who shot 37 percent from the floor and were outrebounded 43-31 in having a three-game winning streak snapped.
“We just weren’t ready to play,” Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said. “We didn’t get back on defense. They had so many points in the paint from transition baskets that you just can’t win that way.”
It was the worst loss of the year for the Beavers, eclipsing a 15-point setback to Washington.
“This was a tough loss,” Beavers forward Eric Moreland said. “We didn’t play with all our heart.”
Booker and Austin Dufault had 11 points each, and the Buffaloes had 14 assists in the first half to build a 46-31 lead at the break.
A layup by Joe Burton got the Beavers within 27-24 before Colorado began pulling away.
Roberson’s basket and free throw off a feed from Booker started an 8-0 run that put the Buffaloes up 35-24. A 3-pointer by Ahmed Starks got Oregon State within 39-29, but Colorado forced three turnovers over the last 2:40 of the first half.
“The coach told me to be aggressive when I came in off the bench,” said Booker. “To take it right to them.”
Booker finished with seven rebounds and three assists and was 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.
Oregon State struggled out of intermission, making only one of its first four free-throw attempts and getting a 3-pointer by Cunningham. Roberson accounted for six straight points after Cunningham’s 3-pointer, and Colorado extended its lead to 57-35 with 15:31 left.
Sabatino Chen’s three-point play put the Buffaloes up 76-51. Two free throws by Nate Tomlinson gave Colorado its biggest lead, 82-54, with 3:18 remaining.
Oregon State is 0-6 in Boulder. The Beavers were hurt by a reduced contribution from Cunningham, who had five points in 10 minutes in the second half.
“I saw him tweak his knee and when he came to the sideline, and he had to get some treatment on it,” Robinson said. “By the time I was going to put him back in, it was well out of hand, and I didn’t want to take a risk putting him back in there in a game like that.”
