DAYTON — The Colorado Buffaloes wrapped up the First Four games with a 60-53 win over the Boise State Broncos on Wednesday night at UD Arena in Dayton.
Colorado's Tristan da Silva led all scorers with 20 points. KJ Simpson added 19 points and 11 rebounds. Simpson, who was top scorer all season for the Buffaloes, went 6 of 18 from the field and made all six of his foul shots.
“KJ was really positive, which I thought was great because you need that positivity in the NCAA Tournament when you go down four late,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle. said. “And we got five straight stops in a row. Our defense just kind of cranked up a notch.”
Colorado (25-10) will now move on the Round of 64 as the No. 10 seed and take a short bus ride to Indianapolis, where they will face the seventh-seeded Florida Gators on Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Both teams looked lethargic in the early going, as they combined for just 25 points by the 10-minute mark of the first half. Boise State took six-point lead late in the half, but Colorado managed to cut the deficit to 26-24 at the break.
The Buffaloes used an 11-0 run to break free from what was a back-and-forth game. Eddie Lampkin Jr. made a layup and J'Vonne Hadley sank two free throws to cap off the run, giving Colorado at 56-49 lead with 24 seconds remaining.
All told, Colorado outscored the Broncos 15-4 in the final 4 1/2 minutes.
Boise State was forced to foul, but the Buffaloes didn't miss from the charity stripe, sealing the win and a trip to the next round.
Chibuzo Agbo scored 17 points for Boise State (23-11), who is now 0-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament contests.
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