KJ Simpson scored 21 points, J’Vonne Hadley had 15 points and the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Northern Colorado Bears 90-68 in Boulder, Colo., on Friday night.
Luke O’Brien contributed 14 points, Tristan da Silva scored 12 points, Eddie Lampkin Jr. had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Julian Hammond III also scored 10 points for Colorado (8-2).
Saint Thomas had 27 points and nine rebounds and Theo Hughes scored 14 points for Northern Colorado (4-6).
The Bears hung tough at the start and led by three early before Colorado began to take control. After Hughes gave Northern Colorado a 7-4 advantage with a layup, Hadley scored six straight points for the Buffaloes to give them the lead for good.
Thomas kept the Bears close with a couple of buckets, but Simpson hit two free throws and scored off of a fastbreak and Hadley sank another layup to give Colorado an 18-11 lead.
The Buffaloes increased the margin to nine on a Hammond 3-pointer, but Jaron Rillie scored on a putback and Hughes made a layup to cut it to 27-22 with 8:48 left in the first half. Colorado finished the period strong to take a commanding lead.
da Silva and Hammond sank 3-pointers and Simpson scored on a short jumper, dunked off of a turnover and drained a 3-pointer during a 16-3 Buffaloes run that made it 48-27 at halftime.
Thomas opened the second half with a layup for the Bears, but Colorado put it away with another surge.
O’Brien hit a pair of 3-pointers, Simpson and Lampkin made layups and Simpson closed a 12-3 run with a dunk to make it 60-32 with 17:01 left. Brock Wisne broke the streak with a layup, but the Buffaloes ran off the next 10 points to go ahead by 36.
Northern Colorado answered with nine straight points to get within 70-43 midway through the second half but never threatened to make it a game the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media