Posts tagged closing
Jeffery’s 28 Pushes Buffs To Pac-12 Win
Jan 9th
BOULDER – Linda Lappe’s third Colorado women’s basketball team is more balanced than her first two, but after a pair of Pac-12 Conference losses she wisely recognized that a stronger dose of Chucky Jeffery might be just as beneficial as balance.
After dropping consecutive home games to No. 4 Stanford and No. 7 California, Lappe and Jeffery talked – and on Tuesday night Jeffery responded. The senior point guard scored a season-high 28 points and collected 12 rebounds to lead No. 23 CU to its first Pac-12 win of the season, 67-57 over Utah at the Coors Events Center.
“Chucky came out a lot more aggressive,” Lappe said. “She was tentative against Cal and Stanford . . . we needed more from her.”
More is what Jeffery delivered, helping key a 20-3 second-half run as the Buffaloes (12-2, 1-2) finally pulled away from the uncooperative Utes (9-5, 0-3).
CU also was lights out from the free throw line, hitting 22 of 26 in the second half and 23 of 28 for the game. The Buffs’ final nine points came from the foul line, and they sealed the win by sinking five of six free throws in the final 33 seconds.
Lappe said Jeffery, whose 10 field goals tied a season high, “got in a great flow offensively . . . she took her time, but she was being aggressive and everything was in rhythm. She didn’t force too much.”
Registering her 23rd career double-double (third this season), it was the type of trademark performance expected of Jeffery in her first three CU seasons. “And we still need that from her,” Lappe said. “She knew when we needed to score . . . she understood her role and sometimes that’s taking the bull by the horns. There are times when we need her to step up; she understands big possessions.”
It wasn’t as if Jeffery was completely unproductive against Stanford (17 points) and Cal (13). But she agreed with her coach about playing tentative to open Pac-12 play: “After the past two games, I watched film with coach . . . and I was tentative and wasn’t looking to score. She just wanted me to be more aggressive. She told me when I’m more aggressive I make smarter and better decisions to create and help my teammates score as well.”
CU won’t have to put in extensive film study for its next game with Utah. The Buffs play the Utes in Salt Lake City on Sunday (3 p.m.). Last season, CU and Utah split their regular-season series, with each team winning on the road and CU breaking the tie with a win in the Pac-12 tournament.
The Buffs only led once in Tuesday’s first half, and it took them 19 minutes to finally catch the Utes. They did it by closing the half on a 10-1 run, with eight of the points scored by Jeffery as CU took a 32-31 lead at intermission.
Behind Plouffe’s 11 first-half points, Utah led by eight points on two occasions before CU shook itself awake. The Utes’ last eight-point advantage (30-22) came on a pair of Wicijowski free throws with 4:42 remaining before the break.
That’s when Jeffery went to work, getting eight of her 14 first-half points in the final 41/2 minutes. The Buffs’ other basket was scored by freshman Jamee Swan, who finished with a career-high 11 boards and eight points in 22 minutes and was a catalyst in CU catching up in the first half, said Lappe: “She kept us in the game for a lot of the first half.”
The Buffs’ 32 first-half points gave them a nice start toward finally reaching 50 in their third conference home game. They managed only 40 and 49 in the two previous losses, marking the first time since the 1974-75 season CU had been held under 50 points in consecutive home games.
But that wasn’t a second-half focal point for the Buffs; scoring 49 and getting a one-point win would have been fine. They opened the second half with a basket by Swan, taking their largest lead (34-31) of the night to that point.
Plouffe answered for Utah (34-33), then got a trey by Rachel Messer to go up 36-34. Meagan Malcolm-Peck’s layup tied the score at 36-36 before a 9-2 Utes run opened a 45-38 advantage for the visitors with just under 13 minutes to play.
It was the Buffs’ turn to respond, and they did with an 11-1 run, with seven of the points made at the free throw line. The final pair by Brittany Wilson put CU up 49-46 with 8:49 left.
Jeffery took it from there. After hitting a short jumper, she got a steal at the other end, was fouled and hit two free throws for a 55-48 Buffs lead. And when the Utes misfired on their next possession, Jeffery made them pay with a three-pointer from the top of the key that completed CU’s 20-3 surge and opened a 10-point lead (58-48) with 5:58 remaining.
The Utes pulled to within five points (62-57) when Plouffe made one of three free throws with 36.1 seconds to play. But the Buffs pulled away at the free throw line, hitting five of six free throws to pocket their first Pac-12 win.
“I’m happy . . . it’s nice to get that first one,” Lappe said. “You have to give Utah credit, though; they don’t beat themselves. You really have to work hard to beat Utah.”
A chance for a sweep comes again in five days, which Lappe calls “different (because) we play them again so soon . . . I think there will be some changes by both teams, but for the most part we know each other’s game.”
The Utes know Jeffery’s game, said Utah coach Anthony Levrets: “We played a really good team and obviously Chucky made a ton of plays to beat us. But I’m pleased with my team’s effort and we’ll keep working and try to get ourselves ready to go on Sunday.”
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Fribbs Leads Way For Buffs With 9-Under, 3rd Place Effort
Sep 26th
ERIE, Colo. — The University of Colorado men’s golf team tied its third-best single round in program history but came up just a little bit short in defending its title in its own 3rd Annual Mark Simpson-CU Invitational, as Pac-12 Conference rival Oregon State held off the Buffaloes’ charge in winning by two strokes.
The Beavers closed things out with a 6-under 282 score for a tournament total of 843, or 21-under par. The Buffs recorded a 13-under par 275 to jump from fourth after two rounds into the runner-up spot with an 845 score, while Colorado State held the third position it entered the day in, finishing with an 847 score. Missouri-Kansas City, the first round leader, captured fourth with an 854 score while Kansas and Texas-Arlington tied for fifth (858).
After hanging around par for the first six holes, the Buffs collectively caught fire, the four scorers playing the last dozen holes at 13-under par; three of the four shot rounds in the 60s Tuesday with the fourth posting a 2-under 70 the 7,771-yard, par-72 Colorado National Golf Club course. The 19-under team score marked the fifth-best effort in relation to par in school history for a 54-hole tournament.
“It obviously was a good day, any time you shoot the low round of the tournament in the last round it’s a good thing,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “We really didn’t play that well the first six or seven holes; we weren’t terrible, just not getting deep into the red numbers. But we really brought it back after that, and that shows the character of the guys on our team.
“We were in sixth if not seventh place early on, and at least 17 strokes back,” he continued. “The thing that was really gratifying was that they didn’t look any different the way they were playing at the end of the day than they did at the start of things yesterday. That’s a sign that the guys really trust in their abilities, are very even keel. Today, we got a little mojo going and were able to get things really going without our best player scoring as well as he’s capable of.”
“Oregon State’s got a really good team, so we were pleased that were able to push them at the end.”
Senior Derek Fribbs led the Buffaloes here with a third place individual finish, finishing up with a 5-under 67 that gave him a 207 total for the meet, or 9-under par. He closed things out with an eagle, three birdies and 14 pars Tuesday, scoring a team-best 13 birdies which were also the eighth most in the 80-man field. He tied for second in par-5 scoring (7-under) and was seventh in par-4 scoring (3-under) while playing CNGC’s difficult par-3’s at just one over, which was 10th best among all the participants.
“Derek really played consistent,” Edwards noted. “When he made any mistakes at all, they were small ones, which in turn really contributed to him playing so consistent. He’s continued to get better over his four years here and it’s really starting to come together for him overall. He’s pretty good at a lot of things and has very minimal weaknesses in his game anymore.”
Sophomore David Oraee tied for seventh, as he put a 69 into the books in the final round for a 54-hole score of 210, or 6-under par. He had five birdies and two bogey with 13 pars Tuesday, as he closed with 12 birdies over the three rounds, tied for 10th most in the field, with his 37 pars a team-high. He was fifth in par-3 scoring (1-under) and 11th in par-5 scoring (5-under) while playing the par-4 holes even.
Both Fribbs and Oraee recorded par or better on 49 of the 54 holes played here; each had four bogeys and a double for their only holes over par.
Senior Beau Schoolcraft fashioned a 3-under 69 in his final round, enabling him to crack par for the tournament, tying for 20th at 2-under 214. He had six birdies, nine pars and three bogeys his final time around CNGC, the six birdies a team-best in the final round; he scored nine of those with 37 pars, the 12th-most in the field, over 54 holes. He played the par-5s at 6-under, tied for fifth-best, with his 1-over on the 12 par-3s for the tourney tying for 10th best.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg ended things with a 2-under 70, giving him an even-par 216 scorecard overall; he led the field in par-3 scoring, playing the dozen holes collectively at 3-under. He recorded 10 birdies in the meet (four on Tuesday), with 36 pars (tied for 19th) against six bogeys and a double.
Senior Jason Burstyn, a two-time champion in as many tournaments entering CU’s home tourney, wound up tying for 52nd after closing with a 4-over 76 for a 6-over 222 total. He had his moments but never got things rolling like he did at the Ballyneal Challenge or at the Air Force Invitational, finishing up Tuesday with a birdie, 13 pars, three bogeys and just the second double bogey (out of 144 holes) this fall. He had six birdies and 37 pars overall, against 10 bogeys and the lone double.
Was Edwards concerned about his No. 1 player’s performance? Not at all. As the seventh-year CU coach was wrapping things up some two-plus hours after the tournament ended, the lone golfer at the far end of the driving range was his two-time medalist in 2012.
Four Buffaloes played as individuals, typical for the host school of a tournament to get its entire eligible roster some added experience. The newest Buffalo made the biggest splash, as junior Johnny Hayes finished ninth overall with a 5-under 211 score after wrapping things up with a 1-over 73. The transfer from Towson (Md.) State had 11 birdies and 30 pars while finishing high in par-4 (2-under, 16th) and par-5 (5-under, 11th).
“He did a great job in his first college tournament in almost two years,” Edward noted. “He spent some time away from the game but missed it so much that he wanted to get back into it. He had some very good results back east in a couple of amateur competitions, but this was still impressive for his first time out. He caught everyone’s attention.”
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo tied for 35th (75—218, 2-over) scoring 15 pars and three bogeys in his final round; he had nine birdies and 35 pars with nine bogeys and a double for his three rounds. Another redshirt frosh, Tyler Engel, finished 74th after closing with a 77 for a 13-over 229 total; he had five birds and 35 pars against 12 bogeys, a double and a quad.
Freshman Ross Thornton wrapped things up with a 6-over 78; he finished in the 80th position (last) as he was disqualified in the second round for signing for an incorrect scorecard.
CSU’s Kirby Pettit was the medalist, but he may be thinking what could have been. He opened with a bogey and the settled down with a par – and then caught fire. He played the next five holes at 5-under (an eagle and three birdies), then scored another eagle and two more birds on the back for a tournament low score of 8-under 64. That combined with a 71-67 effort on Monday gave him a 14-under 202 total, good for a three-shot win over Oregon State’s Brian Jung.
The Buffaloes turn right around and will play in the University of New Mexico’s Tucker Invitational, traveling to Albuquerque for the 54-hole tournament this Friday (36 holes) and Saturday (18). Fourteen teams will participate in he Tucker, including two schools who played here this week, Utah and Wyoming.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS (*—played as an individual)
3. Derek Fribbs………………………… 70-70-67—207
T7. David Oraee…………………………. 73-68-69—210
9. *Johnny Hayes……………………… 71-67-73—211
T20. Beau Schoolcraft…………………… 72-73-69—214
T27. Philip Juel-Berg…………………….. 75-71-70—216
T35. *Drew Trujillo……………………….. 71-72-75—218
T52. Jason Burstyn………………………. 75-71-76—222
74. *Tyler Engel…………………………. 83-69-77—229
80. *Ross Thornton…………………….. 74-DQ-78
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
1. Kirby Pettitt, Colorado State……… 71-67-64—202
2. Brian Jung, Oregon State………….. 67-71-67—205
3. Derek Fribbs, Colorado………….. 70-70-67—207
4. Nathan Hughes, UMKC…………….. 67-68-73—208
T5. Chris Gilbert, Kansas……………….. 69-71-69—209
T5. Korbin Kuehn, UMKC……………….. 68-70-71—209
T7. David Oraee, Colorado…………… 73-68-69—210
T7. Riley Fleming, UT-Arlington……….. 67-72-71—210
9. Johnny Hayes, Colorado………… 71-67-73—211
T10. Sean Walsh, Gonzaga………………. 69-69-74—212
T10. Oskar Arvidsson, Denver………….. 70-69-73—212
T10. Nick Chianello, Oregon State……… 69-71-72—212
T10. David Fink, Oregon State………….. 72-69-71—212
T10. Kyle Westmoreland, Air Force……. 73-70-69—212
T10. Victor Doka, Denver…………………. 70-70-72—212
T10. Hunter Brown, UT-Arlington………. 72-68-72—212
T10. Alex Gutesha, Kansas………………. 70-70-72—212
TEAM SCORES
1. Oregon State…………………….. 284-277-282—843
2. Colorado………………………….. 290-280-275—845
3. Colorado State…………………… 289-279-279—847
4. Missouri-Kansas City………….. 280-282-292—854
5. Kansas…………………………….. 287-283-288—858
5. Texas-Arlington………………….. 287-285-286—858
7. Northern Colorado………………. 292-283-286—861
8. Denver……………………………… 295-278-292—865
9. Air Force…………………………… 295-284-288—867
10. Gonzaga……………………………. 296-283-290—869
11. Houston Baptist…………………. 290-294-286—870
12. Texas State………………………. 295-288-290—873
13. Wyoming………………………….. 308-282-286—876
14. Utah………………………………… 287-299-297—883