Jaylen Nowell and Nahziah Carter each scored 14 points to lead No. 1 seed Washington to a 66-61 win over No. 5 Colorado on Friday night in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal game at the T-Mobile Arena at Las Vegas.
Washington (26-7) advances to the championship game on Saturday night. The Huskies will play Oregon, after the sixth-seeded Ducks took down second-seeded Arizona State in overtime late Friday night.
Matisse Thybulle had 12 points for the Huskies, and David Crisp had 10.
Colorado (21-12), which rallied late against Washington but couldn't close the gap, was led by Tyler Bey's 22 points and 16 rebounds.
The Buffaloes threatened late, going on an 8-1 run to cut the lead to 60-56 with 1:01 left on two Bey free throws. Bey was 12 of 14 from the line in the game.
After Crisp made one of two free throws with 52 seconds left, Colorado turned the ball over for the 18th time in the game on a charging call on Shane Gatling.
Noah Dickerson made one of two free throws for Washington with 37 seconds left. Bey answered with a shot in the lane to cut the lead to 62-58 with 25 seconds remaining.
Washington's Dominic Green converted on two free throws with 22 seconds left, but McKinley Wright responded with a 3-pointer 5 seconds later to cut the lead to 64-61.
Crisp broke free for an uncontested layup with 13 seconds left to secure the win.
Colorado, which scored the game's first eight points, led 33-27 at halftime behind despite its turnover problems. The Buffaloes had nine turnovers, leading to 12 Huskies points.
Colorado's defense was strong enough in the first half to combat the turnovers, limiting Washington to only 34.5 percent shooting from the field. The Buffaloes shot 47.8 percent, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range, in the first half.
Bey and D'Shawn Schwartz combined for 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first half. Schwartz made two of the three 3-pointers he attempted.
Washington started the second half on a 16-2 run to build a 43-35 lead with 14:03 left in regulation. Colorado committed four turnovers and missed its first eight field-goal attempts in that span. Carter and Nowell each had five points for Washington in that game-turning run.
The Buffaloes could not solve Washington's 2-3 zone defense, making only one field goal before the 8:57 mark of the second half, and the Huskies led 52-38.
Colorado finished 0-3 against Washington this year.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | Washington | |
Tyler Bey 22 | Scoring | Nahziah Carter 14 |
McKinley Wright IV 4 | Assists | Jaylen Nowell 4 |
Tyler Bey 16 | Rebounds | Noah Dickerson 11 |
Tyler Bey 12 | Free Throws Made | Nahziah Carter 5 |
Evan Battey 1 | Steals | Hameir Wright 4 |
Tyler Bey 2 | Blocks | Matisse Thybulle 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Colorado | 61 | 32.1 | 6-24 | 21-26 | 10 | 39 | 3 | 4 | 18 |
Washington | 66 | 39.6 | 7-24 | 17-27 | 11 | 24 | 4 | 13 | 10 |