Colorado knocks off West Virginia for second straight upset

KANSAS CITY, MO. -- Reserve Elijah Malone scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to help Colorado defeat West Virginia 67-60 in the second round of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday.

It was the second straight upset for the Buffaloes, who knocked off TCU in the first round.

The Buffs, who used a huge second-half run to seize control, will face top-seeded Houston in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The 16th-seeded Buffaloes (14-19) also got 13 points from RJ Smith off the bench and Andrej Jakimovski tallied 11.

Eighth-seeded West Virginia (19-13) was led by Javon Small with 23 points. Toby Okani added 11.

The Mountaineers will have to wait until a likely NCAA Tournament berth to try to reach the 20-win plateau for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

The lead meandered between three and seven points throughout the first eight minutes of the second half. But after West Virginia stretched it to 46-37 with just over nine minutes left, the Buffaloes went on a 15-0 run to turn a 9-point deficit into a 52-46 lead with 5:15 left.

The Buffaloes' lead was their first since 4-3 early on.

Small, West Virginia's leading scorer, did not take a shot during Colorado's big run. His only points in the first 17:71 of the second half were two free throws.

West Virginia cut it to 56-53, but Malone answered with a layup inside. When Smith hit a 3-pointer with 1:07 left, it put the Buffaloes up 61-53.

The Mountaineers surged out of the gate, doubling up the Buffaloes in the first 12 minutes. But the Buffaloes answered with a 7-0 run that trimmed the lead to 27-21 with 4:54 left in the first half. Neither team could do much on the offensive end the rest of the half, and West Virginia took a 29-23 lead into the locker room.

The teams combined to shoot 34.5 percent from the field in the first half.

Small led the Mountaineers with 13 points in the first half. Colorado was led by Jakimovski with 9 points.

--By David Smale, Field Level Media