Stanford holds off No. 21 Colorado late

The Stanford Cardinal held off the No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes late run Sunday night, collecting their 20th win of the season by the final score of 72-64. As for Colorado, this marks their third-straight loss while Stanford is now on a four-game winning streak.

The Buffaloes were searching for answers for a majority of the first half, and the entire game if you will. The team was stagnant on offense until a 8-0 run brought the Buffs within seven after twenty minutes of play.

A reason for Colorado’s struggles on the offensive end has been due to the lack of production from their bench unit. Eli Parquet started the Buffs 8-0 run with a three from the corner. That was the only offensive production from that unit in the first half. Speaking of the bench, sophomore Daylen Kountz committed two inexcusable turnovers back-to-back and wasn’t seen for the rest of the game.

McKinley Wright kept the run going with an insane alley-oop pass to Tyler Bey and on the ensuing Buffs possession, Wright knocked down a three to give Colorado momentum going into the second half.

Colorado couldn’t figure out how to stop the Cardinal offense in the early going. Blown assignments, lackluster effort and so fourth gave Stanford the lead. Oscar da Silva, Daejon Davis, Jaiden Delaire, and Tyrell Terry accounted for 31 of Stanford’s 35 points in the first half.

The Buffs made a surge in the second half led by Wright and Bey. Colorado went on a 10-0 run to cutting the lead to just three. After forcing a turnover on the defensive end, Colorado called a timeout with about three minutes left in the game. Just when you think Colorado could potentially tie the game following the timeout, a careless turnover by Lucas Siewert on an attempted entry pass to Bey seemed to leak all the air out of the balloon. And no, that’s not the reason the Buffs lost that basketball game.

The second half was the Bryce Wills show. Stanford’s sophomore guard, who is averaging just 6.9 points per game this season, erupted for 19 points while sealing the game late with a layup in the closing minutes. da Silva was having his way early in the second half as well. The junior forward finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

This is Colorado’s third consecutive loss and it’s all coming during the worst time of the season. Colorado’s season finale comes on the road next Saturday against Utah. Keep in mind, Colorado is just one win shy of setting the program record for most wins for the regular season. Let’s see if Colorado can finish the regular season with a win heading into the Pac-12 Tournament.