Colorado Buffaloes vs Grand Canyon Antelopes Match Player Stats On Dec 22, 2020

McKinley Wright IV had 21 points and seven rebounds, Evan Battey added 16 points and Colorado pulled away late to beat Grand Canyon 74-64 in the Far West Classic on Tuesday night at Las Vegas.

Jeriah Horne added 12 points for Colorado (6-1), which has won four in a row.

Jovan Blacksher Jr. led Grand Canyon with 17 points. Asbjorn Midtgaard chipped in with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Sean Miller-Moore added 12 points. The Antelopes (4-3) have dropped three in a row.

The Buffaloes went into halftime tied after failing to score in the final five minutes. After the break, Horne and D'Shawn Schwartz hit 3-pointers in a 12-4 run that gave Colorado a 39-31 lead.

Grand Canyon responded with a run of its own to cut the deficit to 43-41 on a 3-pointer by Miller-Moore. The Buffaloes answered with an 8-2 run to push the advantage to 57-48, their largest lead of the game to that point, with 8:02 left.

The Antelopes didn't go away. Midtgaard hit a jumper and Blacksher sank two free throws and a bucket to get Grand Canyon within three. Wright's three-point play broke the streak, but Blacksher hit a 3-pointer and Miller-Moore made a layup to slice the deficit to 60-59 and force a Colorado timeout with 5:16 left.

The Buffaloes came out strong out of the timeout while the Antelopes went cold. Horne drained a 3-pointer, Wright split a pair of free throws and then hit a jumper to give Colorado a 66-59 lead with 4:11 remaining. Grand Canyon then committed two turnovers that the Buffaloes turned into points and an 11-point lead.

Midtgaard's jumper got the deficit under double digits, but the Antelopes never got closer than nine in the final minutes.

Colorado led by six after Battey's 3-pointer with 5:16 left in the first half but went scoreless the rest of the way. The Antelopes were able to tie it on Alessandro Lever's two free throws to make it 27-27 at the break.

--Field Level Media