Kansas City, Mo.-Andrej Jakimovski scored 16 of his gaming high 18 points in the second half to lift No. 16 Frö Colorado to a 69-67 victory over TCU in the first round of the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
The buffalo will meet the eighth-seeded West Virginia in the second round Wednesday.
The buffalo (13-19) also received 16 points from Julian Hammond III.
No. 9 Seed TCU (16-16) was led by Noah Reynolds, who got all 17 points after half time. Trazarien White added 13.
Colorado, who closed the regular season with an emphatic victory 76-56 over TCU, proved that it was not a fluke.
The buffalo stormed out of the gate to start the second half and used a 13-1 run to open up a lead of 39-28 on the first media issue. They maintained the lead for the rest of the game, although TCU got it close.
TCU used a 7-0 run to turn a 13-point deficit into a 63-57 point. But Vasean Allette missed two free throws for TCU, and after a defensive stop, Reynolds met a corner 3-pointer to make it 63-60 with 1:39 left.
Bangot Dak got an open can to stretch it to 65-60, but Jace Posey met a 3-point with 59 seconds left. Hammond met two free throws to make it 67-63. Reynolds Layup cut it to two again,
Javon Ruffin hit two free throw with five seconds left before Reynold’s arrangement just before the summer.
TCU opened the game by missing its first 13 shots. They did not meet a field goal until Posey met a 3-pointer at the first ground 12:06. Fortunately for the horned frogs, the buffalo was not much better and Posey’s bomb reduced the deficit to 8-5.
The frogs gradually chipped away and cut the deficit to 16-15 with a little more than six minutes left. TCU finally took its first lead with 1:06 left on a short jump of White.
White led the horned frogs with nine points when TCU led 27-26 at the break. Colorado was led by Hammond with 10 points.
-David Smale, Field Level Media
