KANSAS CITY -- Even though Colorado came in as the last seed on the Big 12 tournament bracket, the No. 16-seeded Buffs extended their stay in Kansas City with a 69-67 win Tuesday over No. 9 TCU.

Colorado (13-19) will look to keep its season going Wednesday against No. 8-seed West Virginia (19-12), which had an opening-round bye.

Andrej Jakimovski led the way with 18 points and 7 rebounds, Julian Hammond III scored 16 and the Buffs hit the free throws they needed late to close out the win.

“We were far from our best today, and you figure out how to win a game in March, it says something about our guys,” coach Tad Boyle said. “And this team's come a long way. We've been through a lot together, and they've stuck together.”

Colorado was playing its best basketball to start the second half as the Buffs turned a 27-26 halftime deficit into a double-digit lead with a 14-1 run coming out of halftime, spurred by three 3-pointers from Jakimovski.

But the momentum completely shifted to the Horned Frogs (16-16) in the final 5 minutes when they reeled off 10 straight points -- including two 3s from Noah Reynolds, the second of which cut the Buffs' lead to 63-60 with 1:47 to play -- setting up a nerve-wracking finish to what previously looked to be a comfortable win for Colorado.

Boyle called a timeout to calm his guys down and Bangot Dak snapped a 3-minute, 42-second scoring drought with a signature dunk. He only had 4 points in the game, but those two were huge to push the lead back to 65-60.

But TCU' Jace Posey answered with a 3-pointer to put the Buffs’ backs against the wall again with 59 seconds remaining.

After Hammond knocked down two free throws for Colorado with 20 seconds on the clock, Reynolds got a quick layup on the other end to draw the Horned Frogs to within 67-65 with 11 seconds left.

But Javon Ruffin followed with two clutch free throws with 5 seconds remaining, and Reynolds layup in the final seconds was too little, too late at that point.

“Give up 22 offensive rebounds, you turn it over 15 times, you win. It's kind of a head-scratcher, but they did what they had to do," Boyle said of his team.

Colorado had some extra confidence heading into this matchup after a 76-56 win over TCU on March 8. This one didn't come easy, but the end result keeps the Buffs moving on in the bracket.

Jakimovski scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, including all four of his made 3s.

“Andrej has been probably our most consistent perimeter defender, but the way he's played the last two games has been off the charts,” Boyle said. “His energy and just his ability to make plays for us and then made big shots for us today when we needed it.”

Colorado’s ability to get the line and make 18 of 24 foul shots was a significant factor in the Buffs seeing another day in the Big 12 tournament. In addition to Hammond’s clutch late free throws he had a solid day on the stripe making 7 of 9 overall.

West Virginia is Colorado’s next hurdle Wednesday at 1 p.m. MT (ESPN+). The Mountaineers won the team's regular-season meeting 78-70 in January in Boulder.

“I’m thankful for the Big 12 that we all get to come here because the 16-seed can sometimes surprise some people, like we did today,” Boyle said. “And now it's our job to go do it tomorrow.”