Colorado and Boise State will look to return from the East Coast with some momentum and a little swagger when they square off on Sunday afternoon in the consolation championship of the Myrtle Beach Invitational in Conway, S.C.
Sunday’s game will be the first-ever meeting between the programs.
The Buffaloes (3-2) rebounded from a loss to UMass on Thursday and earned a spot in the consolation final with a dominating 103-75 win over No. 24 Texas A&M on Friday afternoon. KJ Simpson poured in a career-high 30 points that included four 3-pointers in the win as Colorado continued its up-and-down start to the season, beating its second ranked team in the past week.
“We’re tired of bounce-back wins,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said after beating Texas A&M. “We want to start building on wins and we haven’t done that yet this year. We can’t be that inconsistent of a team. If we lose a game, it’s got to be because somebody beats us and not that we beat ourselves.”
Ethan Wright added 15 points for the Buffaloes in the win, with Javon Ruffin hitting for 14 and Nique Clifford scoring 11. Colorado swamped the Aggies with a dominating final 11 minutes of the first half and never looked back, leading by as many as 33 points midway through the second half.
The Buffaloes shot 57.6 percent from the floor and made 16 of their 32 3-point attempts while holding Texas A&M to just 40 percent shooting. The win also produced the largest margin of victory for Colorado against a ranked opponent in school history.
The Broncos (2-2) have also has traded wins and losses this season. Boise State began the Myrtle Beach Invitational with a defeat against Charlotte before routing Loyola (Chicago) 70-48 on Friday to earn a berth opposite Colorado.
Chibuzo Agbo scored a career-high 24 points with his first-ever game in double figures in scoring while Tyson Degenhart added a season-best 19 in the win for the Broncos. Boise State’s starters scored 63 of the Broncos’ 70 points.
Boise State reeled off 16 consecutive points over a six-and-a half minute stretch that turned its seven-point lead into a 23-point margin with just 5:45 remaining.
“We got clicking and that was the most complete game we’ve played hands-down,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “That’s to be expected because we have a lot of new guys and guys who are figuring their role. We’re just kind of settling in as a team but we made a huge jump (in Friday’s win).”
–Field Level Media
