BOULDER — Colorado's second-half toughness made the difference again Wednesday night.
McKinley Wright IV scored 24 points and Tyler Bey had a 22-point, 17-rebound double-double to lead the Buffaloes to their fourth straight win, a 77-73 victory over Arizona State at the CU Events Center.
Colorado improved to 15-9 overall and 6-6 in Pac-12 play while the Sun Devils dropped to 16-8, 7-5. It is the first time since 2006 that the Buffs have won four straight conference games in the regular season, and it is the first time in CU history that Colorado has come from four games under .500 in conference play to get back to .500.
For the fourth straight game, the Buffaloes were the better team after halftime. The game was tied 32-32 at intermission, and with 10:31 to play, the score was still knotted, 51-51, after the Buffs had erased a five-point deficit. That's when the Buffs took control, putting together a 15-7 run over the next eight minutes. Wright had seven points in the run, including a dagger 3-pointer as the shot clock wound down to give CU a 66-58 lead with 2:41 to go. The Sun Devils never came closer than five again until the final seconds, when a meaningless ASU 3-pointer just before the buzzer put the final points on the board.
The Buffs dominated the second half, particularly over the last 10 minutes. Colorado shot 56 percent from the floor after halftime (14-for-25) while holding ASU to just 38.3 percent shooting (13-for-34). The Buffs — who were outrebounded by the Sun Devils by 14 in their first meeting this year — finished with a six-rebound edge, including a 20-15 count after halftime.
"It's not me," head coach Tad Boyle said of his team's recent second-half efforts. "I wish I could say it was me, or our staff. It's our players. When your players decide to lock in like they did tonight, and like they have really the last four games, and dig in defensively and rebound the ball and play with the toughness they've been playing with — that's what changes things. Credit goes to our players, not our coaches."
Wright's 24 points were a season-high, and he added eight assists and six rebounds. Bey's double-double was the 11th of his career and ninth this season, and his 17 rebounds were a career high. Shane Gatling was CU's next high scorer with nine points, including seven in the second half.
"Tyler's a guy that loves challenges," Boyle said. "He and McKinley were warriors tonight. Obviously McKinley with the ball late and Tyler rebounding the ball, those two kids are special. They're really separating themselves in terms of what they can do to help this team win."
Luguentz Dort led ASU with 21 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED: From the beginning, the Buffs were determined not to let the Sun Devils repeat their 83-61 domination earlier this year in Tempe. While ASU led for most of the first half, the Buffs never let the game get out of hand. Colorado trailed by six midway through the period, but came back to tie the game at 32-32 at intermission.
That led to a see-saw first 10 minutes of the second half before the Buffs finally took control. After ASU tied the game 51-51 on a Kimani Lawrence 3-pointer, Colorado exerted its will and the Sun Devils couldn't answer.
D'Shawn Schwartz started the decisive 15-7 run with a free throw before Wright drove the lane for a bucket. Bey then scored inside on a feed from Wright. ASU then managed to cut CU's cushion to three but Wright answered with two free throws and Gatling added a pair.
Meanwhile, CU forced three empty ASU possessions, with Bey grabbing a pair of rebounds in the stretch. Then, with the crowd counting the shot clock down, Wright buried a long trey from the top of the key to give Colorado a 66-58 lead with just 2:41 remaining.
"McKinley Wright, I can't say enough about that guy down the stretch," Boyle said. "The dagger 3 he hit at the end of the shot clock — as a coach, I've coached him enough now to know that he's lulling them to sleep and he just rises up. He knew what he was doing with 5, 6, 7 seconds to go on the shot clock. He knew he was going to take that shot and make that shot and he did. He's a big-time playmaker down the stretch."
Bey, meanwhile, was a monster on the boards all night while also scoring consistently inside. Colorado outscored the Sun Devils 38-26 in the paint — a far cry from the 50-20 edge the Sun Devils held in their first meeting.
"One of the challenges before we took the floor is, I said, 'Guys, we need to attack the paint offensively. The stat I'm looking at at the end of the game is points in the paint and we have to have more than they have.' And we did. Again, credit goes to our players. They took that challenge and they did it. That's what you have to do against Arizona State. They put a lot of pressure on you, you have to turn around and put pressure on them."
After Wright's 3-pointer, the Buffs held the Sun Devils at bay down the stretch. A Bey dunk with 1:00 remaining gave CU a 70-63 lead and basically sealed the win.
"There's a reason that McKinley Wright was going to be a possible player of the year candidate coming into the season and Tyler Bey," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. "Those two sophomores … whoa, they got something with those two."
Colorado's second-half effort was even more impressive when you figure it came with Evan Battey on the bench with a back injury, and Gatling missing much of the game because of foul trouble. Battey had eight points and two rebounds in the first half, but did not play in the second half.
TURNING POINT: A 15-7 Colorado run in an eight-minute stretch late in the second half made the difference.
WHAT IT MEANS: With four straight wins and a home game coming up next, the Buffs have moved from 10th place into a tie for sixth — and just one game out of fourth place. CU now has six regular season games remaining, with four at home.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs won the rebound battle, 39-33, and outscored the Sun Devils 38-26 in the paint. Colorado also shot 49 percent from the floor while holding ASU to 42.4 percent shooting.
QUOTEWORTHY: "The biggest difference has been mental toughness. Earlier in conference play we were playing for only one half. Now we've come together to win because we want to win. We talk about our defense in practice every day and every film session. It's either win or go home, and we've come together to keep fighting." — CU guard McKinley Wright
"What a hard-fought win by a group of guys that you can really sense coming together as a group and galvanizing around each other. That was a good team we beat tonight. We did it without Evan Battey in the second half, we did it without Shane Gatlingfor much of the game in foul trouble. Our guys just found a way. We played with great toughness. We out-rebounded a very, very good Arizona State team who crushed us on the boards back in Tempe when we saw them in January." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
"In the last 15 minutes, we didn't guard anybody. Then the breakdowns occurred, obviously credit to Colorado. They made some big shots late in the clock down the stretch." — ASU coach Bobby Hurley
NEXT UP: The Buffs wrap up their homestand Sunday with a 6 p.m. game against Arizona.
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