Lucas Siewart and Tyler Bey scored 16 points each, D'Shawn Schwartz had 15, and the Colorado Buffaloes held on to beat Nebraska-Omaha, 79-75, in Boulder, Colo., on Friday night.
McKinley Wright had 13 points, including two free throws with seven seconds left to seal the win for Colorado (2-0).
JT Gibson scored 18 points and Zach Johnson had 17 for the Mavericks (1-3).
Colorado led 33-29 at halftime and quickly extended it to 40-32, but the Mavericks came storming back with a 13-2 run. Ayo Akinwole's 3-pointer with 14:57 left gave Nebraska-Omaha a 45-42 lead.
Siewert responded with two 3-pointers around another bucket by the Mavericks to give the Buffaloes a 48-47 lead.
Colorado led 56-54 when Gibson and Johnson hit jumpers to put the Mavericks ahead by two with 9:17 left. The Buffaloes had four empty possessions ending with Wright's layup to end a drought of 2:44.
Wright hit a pair of free throws to put Colorado back in front by one, but the Mavericks wouldn't go away. Gibson hit another jumper to give Nebraska-Omaha the lead, and he and Schwartz traded 3-pointers. Schwartz then converted a three-point play with 4:25 left to give the Buffaloes a 66-64 lead with 4:25 remaining.
Colorado extended the lead to four on free throws by Wright, but Gibson hit another 3-pointer to make it 68-67 with 3:45 left, and KJ Robinson tied it at 70 with a 3-pointer with 3:07 remaining.
Nebraska-Omaha had a chance to take the lead, but Johnson missed the front end of a one-on-one. Siewert put Colorado up 72-70 with a putback layup, and after a miss at the other end Wright made it a four-point lead with a layup.
The Mavericks stuck around when Robinson hit a jumper with 1:25 left and had a chance to tie after a Colorado turnover, but Mitch Hahn lost the ball and Bey's three-point play made it 77-72 with 30 seconds left.
Johnson's 3-pointer off an offensive rebound made it a two-point game with 15 seconds left but Wright closed it out at the line.
--Field Level Media
Nebraska Omaha | Colorado | |
JT Gibson 18 | Scoring | Tyler Bey 16 |
JT Gibson 3 | Assists | McKinley Wright IV 5 |
JT Gibson 6 | Rebounds | Tyler Bey 7 |
KJ Robinson 3 | Free Throws Made | McKinley Wright IV 7 |
KJ Robinson 3 | Steals | Tyler Bey 1 |
Zach Jackson 1 | Blocks | Tyler Bey 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Nebraska Omaha | 75 | 47.5 | 9-22 | 8-12 | 7 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 10 |
Colorado | 79 | 47.3 | 8-21 | 19-23 | 13 | 33 | 6 | 4 | 16 |