Andrej Jakimovski scored 15 points and Colorado broke a 13-match losing line with a 76-63 BIG 12 conference victory over visiting Central Florida on Saturday in Boulder.
The buffalo (10-15, 1-13 Big 12) won for the first time since a 79-55 route by Bellarmine on December 21. It was not close to the route on Saturday as they led by as many as 16 points during the last two minutes.
Julian Hammond III added 11 and Sebastian Rancik chipped in 10 points for Colorado, which overcame 42.4 percent shooting from the field and 19 turnover with a monster effort on the glass. It dominated the knights 52-29, which allowed only eight offensive boards.
Keyshawn Hall made a match-high 19 points and took nine returns for UCF (13-12, 4-10), while Darius Johnson added 15 points. Nils Machowski came from the bench to net 13, but that was not enough because the knights hit only 21 out of 61 shots from the field (34.4 percent), including 6 out of 23 from the 3-point line (26.1 percent).
Colorado led 38-36 at half time and took control with solid defense, which allowed only five points during the first 7:54 of the second half and established an advantage of 51-41. The lead never dipped in five after that.
The story that came into the game was which team could snap a frustrating ski. The buffalo had not won by 2025, while the knights entered a five-game losing line.
Colorado used a 10-2 run for a lead of 16-11 at the mark 11:08 via Javon Ruffin’s 3-pointer. But Machowski, who was only on average 1.3 points ahead of tip-off, got seven straight points to give the knights a 31-27 edge with 2:49 left.
The buffalo had the last word, on a 9-3 run for a two-point lead at half time thanks to Bangot Dak’s layout with a second left.
-Field level media
