Colorado pulls away from Utah, reaches Pac-12 semis

KJ Simpson stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists Thursday night as third-seeded Colorado advanced to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Conference tournament with a 72-58 win over sixth-seeded Utah in Las Vegas.

Eddie Lampkin Jr. added 17 points and 12 boards for the Buffaloes (23-9), who won their seventh straight game and helped their chances to earn an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Tristan da Silva scored 14 points for Colorado, which earned a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint.

Branden Carlson and Hunter Erickson each scored 13 points for the Utes (19-14), who could be bound for the NIT after losing three of their last four games. Cole Bajema added 10 points but made only 3 of 13 shots.

Poor shooting hampered Utah all night as it connected on just 21 of 64 attempts from the field (32.8 percent). The Utes were even worse from 3-point range, going 8 of 30 (26.7 percent) for the game and 2 of 16 (12.5 percent) in the second half. The Utes also lost the battle of the boards 47-37.

The Buffaloes pulled away with an 8-0 run late in the second half, capped by a three-point play from J'Vonne Hadley with 3:48 left for an insurmountable 68-52 cushion.

The first half was played in two distinctly different parts. The first 9 1/2 minutes were all Colorado as it owned a double-figure lead before the second TV timeout and pushed it to 27-13 on da Silva's 3-pointer at the 10:32 mark.

Utah then mounted its first pushback. Beginning with an Erickson 3-pointer, the Utes rattled off 15 straight points in a span of 5:04, taking the lead with 5:08 remaining in the half when Ben Carlson fed Gabe Madsen for a layup.

The half's remainder was a collection of missed shots with Utah going scoreless for the final 2:47 after Branden Carlson dunked. The Buffaloes didn't do much better but were able to take a 33-30 edge to the break after Lampkin found da Silva for an inside hoop.

The teams were whistled for only six fouls in the half, just one on Colorado.