Colorado hangs on to beat Penn State, 71-70, in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Josh Scott scored 18, grabbed eight rebounds and had four blocks to lead Colorado past Penn State 71-70 in the Las Vegas Classic Tuesday night as the Buffaloes nearly blew a 10 point-lead with four minutes remaining.
Josh Fortune had 13 points while Dominique Collier had 12 as the Buffaloes (11-1) won their 11th straight.
Colorado now faces No. 18 SMU in the championship game Wednesday night.
Colorado received votes in this week’s Associated Press poll and has the fifth longest winning streak in team history. This is Colorado’s best start since 1941-42, when it began 14-0 and eventually went to the Final Four.
Shep Gardner led Penn State (8-4) with 26 points, while Payton Banks added 14 and six rebounds.
Colorado built its largest lead at 64-53 with 4 minutes left. But the Nittany Lions trimmed the lead to 68-65 with 26 seconds left and 71-70 with one second left on a Garnder three, but could not foul before the final buzzer.
The momentum switched to Colorado’s favor after Penn State’s Brandon Taylor hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner to put Penn State up 34-31 with 16:27 left in the game. However, Taylor was seen yelling at a referee and was hit with a technical foul. Despite two missed technical free throws by Scott, Colorado then went on an 8-0 run as Taylor sat.
Taylor returned and the run ended on a Banks’ layup.
With 21 seconds left in the game, Collier hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 69-65. Gardner responded on a driving right-side layup with :15 left.
The Buffaloes nearly turned the ball over in front of the Penn State bench on the in-bounds pass, but the ball landed in the hands of George King, who converted two free throws with :08 left.