Freshman guard McKinley Wright IV shoots a three ball during the first half of play at the Coors Event Center. Nov. 10, 2017 (Nigel Amstock/CU Independent)
In dramatic fashion, the Colorado Buffaloes defeated the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the first round of the Paradise Jam Friday night. Freshman guard McKinley Wright IV scored a buzzer-beating three-point shot to give the Buffs the win.
Despite the victory, not all was going smoothly for the Buffaloes in this one.
Colorado led Quinnipiac by three points at the halftime break, but their assist to turnover ratio once again impeded the Buffaloes from breaking away from the Bobcats. Colorado had only three assists while turning the ball over 11 times in the first half.
What also kept Quinnipiac in the ballgame was their ability to rebound offensively. The Bobcats claimed eight offensive rebounds in the first half giving them 19 more possessions in the period. The score was 32-29 at the break.
Turnovers and defensive rebounding weren’t the only things plaguing the buffs for a majority of the game. While Colorado’s final assist to turnover ratio was 7:17 and Quinnipiac outrebounded them offensively 13-12, their three-point shooting was abysmal. Colorado went 4-of-20 from beyond the arc in the game.
Wright IV’s game-winning shot in the final seconds at first sounded impossible. Quinnipiac led by 13 points with 5:25 left in the second half, their largest lead of the game. 10 seconds later, Wright IV checked back in and hit two crucial three-point shots in the last 16 seconds of the game to help the Buffaloes escape from a humiliating defeat.
Wright IV led Colorado in scoring for the night as well, with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Senior center Tory Miller-Stewart led the Buffs in rebounding with nine.
The game’s leading scorer came from Quinnipiac senior guard Cameron Young who claimed 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 4-of-8 from downtown. He also led the team in rebounding with 12.
With the win, Colorado advances to take on the winner of the Drake/Wake Forest game in the second round of the Paradise Jam. Tip-off time for that game has yet to be determined.
Contact CU Independent sports staff writer Drew Sharek at andrew.sharek@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @drew_sharek.
