BOULDER — Senior forward Josh Scott scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half as Colorado beat Nicholls State 85-68 on Friday night, pulling away late for its ninth straight win in a game that was part of the Las Vegas Classic.
The Buffaloes (9-1) play Hampton on Saturday at the Coors Events Center as part of the tournament before heading to Las Vegas to face Penn State on Tuesday, then Kent State or No. 18 SMU.
Colorado trailed by 10 points just before halftime but used a 17-3 spurt during the second half to gain some separation. It was the fourth time this season the Buffaloes rallied from a double-digit deficit for a victory.
CU’s Josh Fortune scored 17 points to help fuel the rally. George King contributed 14 points and teammate Wesley Gordon had seven blocked shots.
T.J. Carpenter scored 18 points for the Colonels (3-7), who have dropped four straight games.
Tre’Shaun Fletcher gave CU the lead for good at 47-45 on a put-back slam with 15:30 remaining. Johnathan Bell tried to keep Nicholls State close, hitting one 3-pointer after another, but the Colonels eventually wore down at altitude. The Buffs outrebounded Nicholls State 45-30.
Early on, Nicholls State accomplished what few teams have been able to do this season — contain Scott. He was held in check until the second half, when he erupted. He’s averaging 18.7 points a game.
CU got the crowd revved early with an alley-oop dunk from King. But that only sparked Nicholls State, which went on a 13-0 run to silence the crowd and take control of the game. At least for a while.
