Jase Richardson scored 13 points off the bench as the Michigan State Spartans beat the Colorado Buffaloes 72-56 in the first round of the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, HI, on Monday.
Michigan State (5-1) overcame another rough game from 3-point range to move into the semifinals, where it will face Memphis on Tuesday. The Tigers beat No. 2 UConn, 99-97, in overtime earlier Monday.
Colorado (4-1) will face the two-time defending national champions in the consolation bracket.
The Spartans missed their first 14 3-point attempts before Richardson hit one with 13:39 left in regulation. They finished the day 2-for-21 from deep but used a strong defense to hand the Buffaloes their first loss.
Julian Hammond III scored 15 points and Elijah Malone had 14 points for Colorado, which shot 37 percent from the floor and was held 28 points below its season average.
Frankie Fidler had nine points and six rebounds, while Szymon Zapala paired seven points with eight boards for the Spartans.
Both teams started strong on offense before the defenses settled in. Neither squad led by more than three points for the first 11 minutes before Michigan State started to pull away.
Tied at 21, Coen Carr hit a hook shot, Jaden Akins made a pullup jumper, Richardson hit a driving layup and Tre Holloman converted a three-point play in a 13-2 run that gave the Spartans a 34-23 lead.
Michigan State extended the advantage to 38-25 at halftime.
The Buffaloes opened the second half on an 8-2 run to get within 40-33 and had a chance to get closer but committed three straight turnovers. They trailed 44-36 after Sebastian Rancik split a pair of free throws, but Richardson hit the Spartans’ first 3-pointer and a driving layup, and Fidler hit a corner 3-pointer to make it 52-37 with 12:18 left.
Colorado missed a couple of shots out of the timeout and Carson Cooper scored on two hook shots to stretch the advantage to 56-39.
Malone’s layup and a short jumper by Hammond helped cut the deficit to 15, but Jeremy Fears Jr. fed Carr for a lob dunk, Fidler hit a bank shot and Fears made two layups to make it 66-46 with 4:58 left.
–Field Level Media
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