WACO, Texas — It was the perfect scenario for Colorado to steal a road win.
Down by two points. Final possession. Cory Higgins takes an open shot at the top of the key for a potential win.
Tad Boyle said he would want the senior captain to be the one with ball in his hands anytime.
This time Higgins missed, and Baylor hung on for a 70-66 victory over the Buffs on Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
“I’ll shoot it again if I get the chance,” said Higgins, whose miss came with 18 seconds left and CU trailing 64-62. “But that was just one shot.”
The problem is it was the Bears who stole this game, outscoring CU 49-31 in the second half.
The Buffs — after opening up a 17-point lead late in the first half — had plenty of chances to silence Baylor’s predictable surge down the stretch.
CU mostly took good shots but finished 11-for-34 (32.4 percent) from the field in the second half. Meanwhile, LaceDarius Dunn and his talented supporting cast made 15 of 25 shots (60 percent) after trailing 35-21 at the intermission.
“We didn’t withstand their run like we needed to,” said Levi Knutson, who finished with 10 points on a rare off game shooting (3-for-9). “They switched up defenses on us a little bit, but that shouldn’t bother us. We battled, but we just couldn’t get stops in the second half.”
After an 8-0 run capped with two free throws by Alec Burks, the visitors led 35-18 with 44.7 seconds left before halftime.
But an offensive rebound and dunk by Stargell Love after a missed free throw cut the deficit to 14 points. Baylor extended the run to 10-0 after scoring the first seven points of the second half.
The tide had turned, and eventually Dunn gave the Bears their first lead (58-57) on a jumper with 2:58 to play. The Big 12’s leading scorer finished with a game-high 26 points after CU held him to nine before halftime.
“We talked about winning the second half. Boy, they came out and instead of us punching them in the mouth, they punched us in the mouth,” Boyle said. “We couldn’t get stops and everything we worked for in the first 20 minutes was gone in the first part of the second half. They got the momentum on their side and the crowd in the game.”
The Bears (14-6, 4-3) — who were 0-6 this season when trailing at halftime — had a five-point lead entering the final minute, but an old-fashioned three-point play by Burks brought CU to within 64-62.
After A.J. Walton missed a pair of free throws, Higgins attempted the shot that could have ended CU’s losing streak. Dunn went 6-for-6 at the line after Higgins missed.
“We’ll take that shot,” Boyle said. “Cory is a guy I believe in, our players believe in him, our coaching staff believes in him.”
The Buffs (14-8, 3-4) have now lost four consecutive games after a 3-0 start to Big 12 play.
“We just didn’t get stops or make shots when we needed to,” Higgins said of the second half. “I think we played good enough to win and the timely plays just didn’t go our way.”
CU will try to get back to .500 in conference play against Iowa State on Tuesday at the Coors Events Center.
“It’s tough,” Knutson said. “Every game in the Big 12 is going to be this way. We have to bounce back.”
Baylor 70, Colorado 66
COLORADO
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Dufault 26 2-5 0-2 2-5 0 3 4
Tmlnsn 16 1-3 1-2 0-1 2 2 3
Rlphrde 27 2-7 0-2 1-3 1 4 4
Burks 34 6-19 8-8 2-6 1 3 20
Higgins 34 6-15 2-2 1-5 2 3 16
Sharpe 7 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Coney 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Rbrsn 27 3-7 3-4 10-11 1 4 9
Knutson 29 3-9 2-2 2-4 1 4 10
Totals 200 23-65 16-22 19-38 8 24 66
Percentages: FG .354, FT .727.
3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Knutson 2-4, Higgins 2-5, Roberson 0-1, Tomlinson 0-1, Relphorde 0-1, Burks 0-4).
Team Rebounds: 2.
Blocked Shots: 3 (Dufault 2, Higgins).
Turnovers: 10 (Burks 4, Higgins 2, Roberson 2, Knutson, Tomlinson).
Steals: 12 (Knutson 4, Burks 3, Roberson, Sharpe, Dufault, Relphorde, Tomlinson).
Technical Fouls: None.
BAYLOR
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
P Jones 38 6-12 2-4 3-6 2 2 14
A Jones 27 1-4 0-0 1-5 0 1 3
Morgan 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Walton 28 3-4 0-2 1-3 4 3 8
Dunn 36 6-18 11-11 2-7 6 3 26
Ellis 22 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 3 2
Acy 32 4-5 5-7 1-9 0 2 13
Love 14 2-4 0-0 2-3 0 2 4
Totals 200 23-49 18-24 12-38 12 16 70
Percentages: FG .469, FT .750.
3-Point Goals: 6-13, .462 (Dunn 3-7, Walton 2-2, A. Jones 1-2, Ellis 0-1, Love 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 2.
Blocked Shots: 5 (Ellis 2, Acy 2, P. Jones).
Turnovers: 18 (Walton 4, Acy 4, Dunn 3, Love 2, A. Jones 2, P. Jones 2, Ellis).
Steals: 3 (Dunn, Acy, Ellis).
Technical Fouls: None.
Colorado 35 31–66
Baylor 21 49–70
A — 6,095.
Officials — Duke Edsall, Rick Crawford, Brent Hampton.
