Colorado recovers from slow start to beat Cal 59-46

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Luke O'Brien hits the 3 vs. Cal

Luke O'Brien hits the 3 vs. Cal

February 3, 2023

BOULDER, Colo. -- — Tristan da Silva scored 20 points, Colorado leaned hard on its reserves and the Buffaloes staved off a season sweep against California by beating the Bears 59-46 on Thursday night.

The Bears beat Colorado 80-76 on New Year's Eve for their first Pac-12 Conference win of the season.

Da Silva and KJ Simpson were the only Colorado (13-11, 5-8 Pac-12) starters to score for the Buffs in the first 30 minutes of play until 7-foot-1 center Lawson Lovering buried a jumper with 9:43 remaining. Simpson had 10 points and the bench scored 25 — led by nine points each from Jalen Gabbidon and Luke O'Brien.

Kuany Kuany was the only Cal (3-19, 2-9) player to score in double digits with 10 points. The Bears piled up 22 turnovers and 22 personal fouls.

Despite that, Cal controlled the first half and built a 27-17 lead on a pair of Joel Brown foul shots with 2:38 left. Colorado closed the half with a 7-0 run and used runs of 13-0 and 11-0 in the second half to clinch the win.

Cal plays at Utah on Sunday. Colorado hosts Stanford on Sunday.

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