No. 5 Texas Longhorns 67

No. 12 Colorado Buffaloes 56

RECAP:

OKLAHOMA CITY – No time for overtime this time around.

No. 5 seed Texas fended off a stubborn No. 12 seed Colorado to win 67-56 in the first round of the Big 12 Championship on Wednesday.

On Feb. 14, Colorado nearly upset Texas behind a Cory Higgins’ 34-point effort that sent the game to overtime, but the Buffaloes couldn’t finish the job and lost. On Wednesday, Higgins was silent, scoring just five points as Colorado fought against a 10-point Texas’ margin for a majority of the game.

Texas’ Dexter Pittman struggled during the first matchup, but not on Wednesday.

Despite Colorado’s efforts, Pittman proved too big and too powerful for the undersized Buffaloe squad this time, as he helped squash Colorado’s hope for a Feb.14 repeat.

Pittman dominated the Buffaloes inside with a 26 point, 10 rebound double-double. At 6-10, 298 lbs., Pittman is 63 pounds heavier than Colorado’s heaviest player, and the difference showed.

Pittman combined with teammate Damion James, who also had a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds), to help Texas out-rebound Colorado 38-30.

The Buffaloes held the sharp-shooting A.J. Abrams to just 10 points, but it didn’t matter as they struggled from the field shooting 36 percent to Texas’ 45 percent.

Dwight Thorne led the Buffaloes with 15 points, but only one other player scored in double-digits.

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