Bangot Dak had 16 points, 12 rebounds and a key block late in the second half, Sebastian Rancik scored 19 points, and the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Utah Utes 85-73 in Boulder, Colo., on Wednesday night.
Isaiah Johnson scored 12 points and Alon Michaeli contributed 10 points for Colorado, (12-3, 2-0 Big 12 Conference).
Don McHenry had 24 points, but was held to six in the second half, and grabbed seven rebounds for Utah. Terrence Brown and Keanu Dawes finished with 16 points each for the Utes (8-7, 0-2).
The Utes missed nine of their first 10 shots and fell behind 13-4 but rallied to take their first lead at 29-27. The Buffaloes responded with a 12-2 run to lead by eight, Utah then closed within two but the Utes trailed 42-38 at halftime.
Colorado opened the second half with five straight points to lead 47-38, Dawes split a pair of free throws at the other end and Rancik hit a jumper to make it 49-39. Utah got within seven but the Buffaloes hit a pair from deep around a 3-pointer by Seydou Traore to push the lead back to double digits.
The Utes answered with a baseline dunk from Dawes and a four-point play by McHenry, his first points of the second half, to cut the Colorado lead to 61-57 midway through the second half. After the Buffaloes missed twice, Sanders hit a turnaround in the lane and Brown hit a driving layup to make it 67-65.
Josiah Sanders kept Utah at bay with a couple of buckets. Utah had a chance to tie it with 3:31 left but Dak blocked Traore’s layup and had a follow slam at the other end to stretch the Buffaloes lead to 71-67.
A Utes turnover led to two free throws by Johnson with 2:54 remaining, McHenry was called for carrying, Barrington Hargress hit a driving layup and Rancik’s short hook made it 77-67 with 1:30 left. Rancik sank four free throws in the final 1:10 to help seal it.
