Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament Day 3: Colorado, Arizona Advance

Los Angeles – The intensity at Staples Center increased by a few notches Friday, as the remaining teams knew that an automatic NCAA Tournament bid was within reach.

Arizona (4) vs. Oregon State (9)

Arizona used a 14–2 run in the middle of the second half to seize control of the first semifinal game of the day, cruising to a 72–61 win over a noticeably fatigued Oregon State team.

Senior Kyle Fogg led the Wildcats with 22 points, providing several key scores to stretch the lead to 14 with 5:30 left.

Coach Sean Miller credited Fogg for leading the team, stating, “you look at how he’s playing, in a sense, he’s kind of our go-to guy right now.”

Oregon State led at halftime 34–27, as Dwight Collier and Jared Cunningham contributed 11 points apiece. However, the second half was a completely different story, as Arizona took the lead in just under 4 minutes (at 16:03 mark).

Beaver coach Craig Robinson admitted, “In the second half, we were getting the same things, and it just was hard to finish, and that’s a sign of fatigue.”

It seemed fitting that the high scorer for Oregon State was Roberto Nelson with 19 points, considering that he played for only 1 minute in the quarterfinal against Washington.

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California (2) vs. Colorado (6)

Tri Le / The Daily Sports Herald

Despite playing their third game in as many nights, Colorado stayed with their frantically-paced style of basketball, and won their semifinal game 70–59.

Colorado came out with a 12–2 run at the start of the game to serve notice that they would not be easily beaten. The Bears, however, weathered the storm and took the lead shortly after halftime.

However, led by seniors Carlon Brown and Austin Dufault’s 17 and 15 points, respectively, the Buffaloes took it to California with efficient play in their half-court offensive sets.

As Colorado coach Tad Boyle put it, “We executed really well, I thought, the entire second half getting shots and playing with poise and really controlled the tempo of the game.”

Allen Crabbe led the Bears with 18 points.

Colorado next faces Arizona in the final of the Pac-12 Tournament.

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By Christian Siagian
Contributing Writer for The Daily Sports Herald