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LOS ANGELES — After a close game throughout, Colorado went on a 16-6 run over the final 5:19 to finish the game, and the Runnin' Utes were eliminated from the Pac-12 conference tournament in the 53-41 defeat.
Senior guard and former Ute Carlon Brown hit a jump shot with just over five minutes to play that ignited the run, making it 37-33 in favor of Colorado. As the time ticked down, Utah was forced to resort to fouling to slow the game, but the Buffaloes were efficient from the free-throw line, hitting 22 of their 29 attempts on the day.
The abundance of free throws for Colorado also meant foul trouble for the Utes, keeping freshman guard Kareem Storey on the bench for much of the game before fouling out late. Fellow freshman guard Anthony Odunsi also fouled out in the final minutes, while junior guards Cedric Martin and Chris Hines each finished the game with four fouls apiece.
"Competitively it was awesome," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "But we got ourselves in foul trouble, and we're already not a deep team. It was fun, the guys really competed. I thought they really laid it out there."
Sophomore forward Andre Roberson led all scorers with 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Buffaloes. Roberson registered a double-double in each of Colorado's three meetings with Utah, tallying a total of 49 points and 44 boards in the three meetings — averages of 16.3 points and 14.7 rebounds.
Brown finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while freshman forward Spencer Dinwiddie recorded 10 points.
The Utes led by as many as seven in the first half, before Colorado pulled ahead by five just before half time. Junior forward Dijon Farr knocked down a 3-ball for Utah as the first half expired to cut the lead to two, 25-23.
After Storey tied the game on the second half's opening possession, the Buffaloes put together a 10-0 run to go ahead 35-25 with 15:22 remaining.
But Utah (6-25, 3-16) fought back, after Hines burried a 3-pointer to lead an 8-0 Utah run, putting the Utes back into the game with just over seven minutes to go.
Colorado (20-11, 12-7), however, was able to hold on to win it at the free-throw line, though the Utes had several chances to stay in the game late, including a potentially game-tying hook shot by junior center Jason Washburn just before the five-minute mark.
"It seemed like we had a few opportunities to keep it close," Krystkowiak said. "(Washburn) got a lot of attention down there, and I thought he did a pretty good job overall. They focused on him and beat him up with a lot of different bodies over the course of the night. That was just one of those plays. It's a little thing that could have been a big thing, but there are probably 50 of those along the way that you wish you could have back."
Washburn led Utah with 11 points, six boards and five blocks. Hines, Farr and Odunsi each added eight for the Utes.
Despite the loss, Utah managed to out-rebound Colorado, grabbing 33 to the Buffaloes' 30, as well as shoot slightly more efficiently, hitting 35 percent from the field to Colorado's 34.9 percent.
But the Utes turned the ball over 18 times, compared to Colorado's nine, and only hit half of their 18 free-throw attempts.
The loss marked a rough finish to a rough season, but Krystkowiak found some positive takeaways from the 2011-12 campaign.
"This is really a resilient group, they just kept grinding and grinding," he said. "I have a lot of respect for guys who can do that. The one element you can bring to the table every time is that kind of approach. It wasn't always pretty, we didn't make all of our shots, we had a heck of a time scoring points, but I think a lot of guys maximized their efforts.
"What these guys need to take from this locker room is that work ethic. That will take you a long way, I'm hoping that got instilled in the guys. You just keep fighting and battling and its pretty easy to walk away from it when you do that."
While Utah's season comes to an end, Colorado will move on to face Oregon tomorrow night for round two of the Pac-12 conference tournament. The tourney will wrap up on Saturday afternoon, with selection Sunday occurring the following day.
