DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — KJ Simpson scored 23 points and made a number of key plays in the second half, leading No. 18 Colorado to a 64-59 victory over Richmond at the Sunshine Slam on Monday night.
In a game that was already low-scoring, the Spiders managed just two points in a stretch of 3 minutes, 40 seconds after Simpson made two free throws that gave Colorado a 54-51 lead with four minutes remaining. The Buffaloes extended their lead to 62-53 before Isaiah Bigelow hit a 3-pointer for Richmond with 19 seconds left.
J’Vonne Hadley made two foul shots for Colorado with 12 seconds to go for a 64-56 lead and Richmond’s Jordan King wrapped up the scoring with a 3-pointer.
The game had been tight throughout, with Colorado’s 62-53 advantage the largest lead of the second half. Richmond led twice in the second half, the second time when King made two free throws for a 44-42 lead near the nine-minute mark. Simpson made one free throw on Colorado’s next possession and his 3-pointer seconds later gave Colorado the lead for good.
Simpson made 6 of 11 field goals and 9 of 10 from the line for Colorado (4-0). Tristan da Silva added 15 points with eight rebounds.
King had 20 points and seven rebounds and Dji Bailey scored 11 points off the bench for Richmond (2-2).
Colorado scored the first six points of the game, but Richmond tied it at 13 on a 3-pointer by Bigelow at the midway point. Simpson followed with a 3-pointer and the Buffaloes went up 22-15 on the way to a 28-25 halftime advantage.
Colorado will play Florida State for the championship on Tuesday and Richmond will face UNLV for third place.
___ Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email [email protected] Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
