In a 2008 photo, junior guard Cory Higgins faces off against Texas Christian University. Higgins hit back-to-back 3-pointers against Arizona Tuesday. (CU Independent file/Jason Suder)
History continues to repeat itself.
The Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to the Arizona Wildcats, falling 91-87 in overtime Tuesday at the 2009 EA Sports Maui Invitational. The loss came a day after the Buffs (3-2) blew a 15-point lead and lost 76-72 to Gonzaga in the opening-round game of the tournament.
Last year, Colorado lost eight games by five points or less.
The Buffs mounted a comeback trailing by eight points with 53 seconds to play. Sophomore guard Nate Tomlinson, who scored 20 points, and junior guard Cory Higgins hit back-to-back 3-pointers following missed Arizona free throws to cut the lead to two with 29 seconds left. A bad inbounds pass was collected by sophomore forward Austin Dufault, who had a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, and two Higgins free throws later, the game was tied at 80. The Wildcats’ Nic Wise, who had a career-high 30 points, missed a three with just over a second to go to send the game into overtime.
In OT, Wise, the senior guard from Houston, went on a personal 8-0 run which included his final trey with 1:28 to go to put Arizona up 89-85, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Wise went 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and scored 16 points after drawing his fourth personal foul.
Freshman guard Alec Burks had 19 points and went 9-of-10 at the foul line. Burks has scored in double digits in all five games in a Colorado uniform and picked up the scoring slack left by senior Dwight Thorne II, who was held scoreless.
Higgins was his typical self, scoring 22 of his team-high 28 after halftime, and stared down Wise in a battle of two elite scorers.
Colorado showed resiliency by battling back from multiple deficits and staying with the sharpshooting Wildcats for most of the game, trailing 35-34 at the half.
The Buffs will take on Chaminade for seventh place at noon MST Wednesday while Arizona (3-1) moves on to face Vanderbilt in the fifth-place game.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at David.starcer@colorado.edu.
