There's no place like home for the Colorado Buffaloes, but Saturday the raod was just fine.
In a game the Buffs needed to win to keep their NCAA tournament dreams alive, CU ran out to a big lead and held off several Baylor runs, for a 72-59 win.
The win improved the Buffs conference record to 7-7 and gave them a little breathing room in the fight for 6th place.
Texas helped Colorado by beating Texas Tech 76-71, knocking the Red Raiders one game behind CU with a 6-8 conference record.
Stephane Pelle led the Buffs with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
"we were determined to win this game and have some prideonthe road", said Pelle, who was 11-18 shooting.
Mookie Wright returned from his suspension and scored 8 points on 4-7 shooting. Wright played 30 minutes, more time than Head Coach Ricardo Patton had originally thought he would play.
Even though the win was huge for the Buffs, there's not much time for celebration. Colorado faces nationally ranked Oklahoma State Weds. night at the Coors Event Center. The cowboys are not going to be too happy. They were hammered by Kansas 79-61.
The Buffs will close the season with a home game against the sorry Nebraska Cornhuskers.
If CU can win their last two games and fair well in the Big 12 tournament, they have a solid shot of getting to the NCAA tournament. Lose one or both of their games and it will be in the hands of the selection committee.
COLORADO GAME STATS
PLAYER FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A PF PTS
Stephane Pelle 11/20 0/0 1/2 2 23
Michel Morandais 8/15 2/2 4/6 3 22
David Harrison 4/5 0/0 1/2 3 9
Blair Wilson 3/12 0/4 2/2 1 8
James Wright 4/9 0/1 0/0 1 8
Lamar Harris 1/2 0/0 0/0 3 2
Chris Copeland 0/2 0/1 0/0 0 0
Antoine McGee 0/1 0/1 0/0 3 0
TEAM TOTALS 31/66 2/9 8/12 16 72
CU PERCENTAGES PCT TOT
FG% .470 31-66
FT% .667 8-12
3p% .222 2-9
Game Recap From The AP;
WACO, Texas (AP) _ Stephane Pelle scored 23 points and Michel Morandais added 22 as Colorado beat Baylor 72-59 Saturday, giving the Buffaloes their first Big 12 road win this season.
Colorado (17-10, 7-7) dominated the Bears inside, outscoring them 46-14 in the paint and outrebounding them 50-28.
R.T. Guinn led Baylor (13-12, 4-10 Big 12) with 14 points.
Colorado led 43-31 early in the second half when Baylor went on a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 45-44. John Lucas, Ellis Kidd and Kenny Taylor each hit 3-pointers during the run.
But the Buffaloes then scored 11 straight, five by Morandais and four by Pelle, and extended their lead to 56-44 with 12:30 remaining.
Guinn hit a 3-pointer with 5:18 left to trim the deficit to 62-55, but David Harrison's dunk with just over three minutes left put Colorado up 68-55 and essentially put the game away.
Colorado led 39-28 at halftime, thanks to the inside game.
Midway through the first half, Colorado had a 15-4 rebounding advantage and took a 31-16 lead with about 5:30 left. The Buffaloes finished the half with a 27-14 edge in rebounds.