McKinley Wright IV and D'Shawn Schwartz scored 16 points apiece, Tyler Bey had 13 points and eight rebounds, and No. 20 Colorado beat Loyola Marymount 76-64 in Boulder, Colo., on Wednesday night.
Daylen Kountz scored 11 for Colorado (7-0), which pulled away late to avoid the upset.
Eli Scott led the Lions (3-5) with a career-high 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Loyola Marymount led most of the second half until Lucas Siewert hit a 3-pointer to give Colorado a 51-50 lead with 9:31 to go.
Wright later hit a layup and short jumper to give the Buffaloes a 61-59 lead, but Scott hit a layup to tie it again with 4:17 left.
It stayed that way until Schwartz sank a 3-pointer with 2:41 left to give Colorado a 64-61 lead. Keli Leaupepe missed the front end of a one-and-one on the other end, and Wright hit two free throws with 1:54 left.
Bey blocked Scott on the other end, leading to two more free throws, this time by Schwartz, to put Colorado ahead 68-61 with 1:23 to play.
The Lions missed nine straight shots after tying it at 61, a streak broken by Scott's dunk with eight seconds left.
The Lions opened up a nine-point lead early in the second half, capitalizing on three Colorado turnovers. Ivan Alipiev, who played only 7:43 in the first half after picking up three fouls, hit a 3-pointer with 17:10 left to give the Lions a 43-34 lead.
Shane Gatling made a corner 3-pointer and a jumper from the key to get Colorado back within four, and Schwartz hit another from behind the arc to cut the deficit to 45-42 with 15:01 left.
The lead was seven after two buckets by Lazar Zivanovic, but Bey hit a jumper and Schwartz another from long range to make it 49-47 with 12:42 left.
The Lions led 34-30 at halftime despite 12 turnovers and 13 team fouls. Colorado had 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and went cold from the field for a long stretch.
After leading 20-19, the Buffaloes went scoreless for 9:37 and saw Loyola Marymount go on a 10-1 run to take the lead.
--Field Level Media
Loyola Marymount | Colorado | |
Eli Scott 31 | Scoring | D'Shawn Schwartz 16 |
Ivan Alipiev 2 | Assists | McKinley Wright IV 5 |
Eli Scott 10 | Rebounds | Tyler Bey 9 |
Eli Scott 6 | Free Throws Made | McKinley Wright IV 8 |
Deovaunta Williams 3 | Steals | McKinley Wright IV 2 |
Jordan Bell 2 | Blocks | Tyler Bey 5 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Loyola Marymount | 64 | 51.9 | 3-9 | 7-17 | 7 | 28 | 4 | 13 | 20 |
Colorado | 76 | 41.5 | 7-21 | 25-33 | 9 | 35 | 9 | 5 | 18 |