Colorado beat Eastern Washington, 60-57, at home Wednesday night in a game that challenged the wisdom in the old saying "a win's a win."

For the Buffs, who avoided a three-game losing streak by taking down the Eagles, their victory was far from easy or pretty.

"We did what we had to do to win a game when we weren't at our best and to me, you take a little bit of solace in that, but we have got to get better," Tad Boyle said after the win. "...We were fortunate to win this game. (EWU) missed some wide open threes there at the end — thank goodness."

Up 39-31 at halftime, Colorado suffered through a maddening spell throughout a big chunk of the second half, allowing EWU to claw back into the game, with the Eagles taking a four-point lead with about 4:30 to play.

For around 11 straight minutes leading into that moment, which saw the Eagles up, 55-51, CU had scored a measly four points to go along with eight turnovers, a period of time which very nearly ended up costing the Buffs the game.

Down, 55-53, with 2:55 to play, back-to-back three-point plays from Evan Battey and Jabari Walker, both of whom made layups in traffic as well as their ensuing free throws, gave the Buffs a late breath of life.

Even still, EWU managed to tie the game at 57 with 1:51 to play and Colorado appeared to be looking for ways to lose the game until the final seconds.

After the Buffs picked up a stop on defense, leading, 60-57, with 13 seconds to play, Jabari Walker missed three of four free throws in a four-second span that allowed the Eagles one final shot to attempt a game-tying three-pointer.

Thankfully for CU, that shot by the Eagles' red-hot Steele Venters, was rushed and did not fall.

"I think we've got to figure out how to get a lead and maintain a lead — just keep creating separation," Walker said after the game.

"I think the biggest thing for us is going into the film room and having that translate onto the court because we keep making some mistakes that might cost us games if we can't create separation."

Venters led all game participants with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, torching the Buffs in particular from long range, as 18 of his total points came from beyond the arc.

As for Walker's late-game slip-up at the charity stripe, one can't criticize too harshly.

It was Walker who was the primary spark for CU throughout the game, evidenced by his double-double of 17 points and 10 boards, both of which were team-bests for the Buffaloes.

After going down, 6-0, to start the game, the Buffaloes erupted on a 14-0 run, with Keeshawn Barthelemy scoring seven of those points, to take a 14-6 lead at the first media timeout.

Colorado kept up the pressure offensively down the stretch of the first half, leading by double digits for the vast majority of the remainder of the opening 20 minutes.

Venters hit his fourth three-pointer of the first half with nine seconds left, bringing EWU within eight points at the halfway point.

The Buffaloes stayed in control of things early into the second half, with a Walker layup giving them a 45-33 lead with 15:36 to play.

But from there, the Eagles began to chip away at CU's lead, not so much to lighting up the court with their offense, but taking advantage of the Buffs' frequent turnovers and missed shots.

"The turnovers (and) the poor shooting led to a poor energy level," Boyle said. "...We hit droughts, we hit turnover runs that we cannot — we've got to fix those things."

With 7:04 to play, Venters' fifth and final three-pointer of the night tied the game at 49.

With memories of Tennessee's Kennedy Chandler (27 points scored vs. CU) and UCLA's Tyger Campbell (21 points scored vs. CU) fresh in mind, Venters' night at the office Wednesday shows how Colorado continues to struggle in neutralizing opposing perimeter players.

"(The Eagles) have multiple guys that can go off on you — we knew that," Boyle said. "Part of scouting report was (that) we had to take away his threes. We wanted to keep size on him as best as we could because if you put a little guy on him, he's either going to post them up or back them down."

As far as positives go, the Buffaloes were +12 on the glass, out-rebounding the Eagles, 40-28.

Eastern Washington wasn't particularly dominant from the floor, shooting a good-but-not-great 40% overall.

For the Buffaloes, the stress of pulling off a win Wednesday was far more self-inflicted as opposed to getting out-played by the Eagles.

However, as Boyle likes to say, "when the price of poker goes up," namely on Dec. 21 against No. 8 Kansas, which will wrap CU's non-conference slate, and then leading into Pac-12 league play, a performance like tonight will almost certainly lead to a loss.

"You've got to find a way to win when you're not at your best and we did that tonight," Boyle said. "That's the positive we take from (this). But we also know how much better we need to get offensively."