Second Half Shooting Carries Colorado past Portland 76-63
Portland, Oregon - Colorado was looking to get back on track Saturday Night in a non-conference game against Portland.
1st Half Recap
The game was tied just 8-8 with 10:34 to play, then Portland took a 25-19 lead with under 4 minutes to play before half. The Buffs would cut the lead to 26-24, but the Pilots would control the pace of the game and lead 30-28 at the break.
The Buffs were shooting just 36% from the field, Xavier Johnson was 2 for 7 from the field, Derrick White was 1-4, and the Buffs were also struggling at the charity stripe for the second week in a row hitting just 6 of 10 free throws.
George King led the Buffs at the half with 10 points and was the only consistent player from the field hitting 5 of 7 and also collecting 4 rebounds.
Portland was 45% shooting from the field at the half and 42% from 3 point land hitting 3 of 7 shots. Alec Wintering was 3 of 6 from the field and 3 of 4 at the line to led the Pilots with 9 points at the break.
2nd Half Recap
The Buffs would tie the game up at 35 with 15:32 after Xavier Johnson hit a big three, then it seemed the whole team heated up. Freshman Bryce Peters hit a big three as did Josh Fortune, followed by Deleon Brown, which made it Colorado 48-44 with 11:41 in the game.
This was truly a tail of two halves, the second which Colorado controlled. Leading 66-55 with 3:19 in the game, Colorado who shot just 36% during the first half was shooting 43.6 from the field and continued to outbound the Pilots on the glass 34-27.
Derrick White also heated up in the second half scoring 11 points and hitting a few clutch jumpers. White would finish with 13 points, Josh Fortune would lead the Buffs with 14 points on the night.
The Buffs would finish the night shooting 43% from the field and were 21 of 30 from the stripe (70%), and collected a total of 38 rebounds. The Buffs’ bench scored 12 points, Deleon Brown had 5 in the victory.
Colorado will host No. 7 Xavier on December 7th in a very big early season test.
Colorado Game Stats
Portland Game Stats
Colorado's Next 5 Games
vs. No. 7 Xavier on December 7th
@ BYU on December 10th
vs. FHSU on December 17th
@ Air Force on December 19th
vs. Eastern Washington on December 22nd
Colorado's Last 5 Games
W - Portland 76-63
L - Colorado State 72-58
W - Wofford 75-60
W - No. 22 Texas 68-54
L - Notre Dame 89-83
