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Julian Hammond III scored 19 points in his return to the lineup after a one-game absence, RJ Smith added 12 and the Colorado Buffaloes beat the TCU Horned Frogs 76-56 in Boulder, Colo., on Saturday afternoon.

Bangot Dak added 10 points and Trevor Baskin had a season-high 16 rebounds for Colorado (12-19, 3-17 Big 12 Conference), which snapped a three-game skid.

Trazarien White had 21 points and Noah Reynolds contributed 12 for TCU (16-15, 9-11).

Javon Ruffin opened the second half with a long 3-pointer to push Colorado’s lead to 40-31 before immediately picking up his third foul.

The Horned Frogs cut the deficit to 44-39 on White’s layup but Elijah Malone then had two dunks and Hammond drained a 3-pointer to give the Buffaloes a 51-39 lead.

TCU answered with a rally to get within a possession. White made four free throws and Malick Diallo, Micah Robinson and Reynolds hit layups during an 11-0 run to pull within 51-50 with 10:11 left.

Colorado recovered to retake control. Smith hit a jumper, Baskin tipped in a rebound and Smith had a steal that led to a three-point play and a 58-50 lead.

Reynolds had a layup wiped away by a moving screen and Vasean Allette was called for a technical foul. Hammond made the two free throws and Dak drained a short jumper to give the Buffaloes a 62-50 lead.

David Punch made a layup but Hammond hit a jumper and Baskin split a pair of free throws to increase the advantage to 65-52.

The Horned Frogs went ice cold, missing nine shots in a row, and went without a field goal for the final 6:43. Hammond’s two free throws and his third 3-pointer pushed the lead to 73-54 with 2:07 left on the clock before the Buffaloes closed it out.

Colorado led by as many as nine points in the first half but didn’t make a field goal for the final 4:18. They held the Horned Frogs to one basket in the last 5:23 of the period and took a 37-31 lead into intermission.

–Field Level Media