Dawgs Defeat Colorado
By Danny Bishop
BASKETBALL
The Georgia men’s basketball team entered halftime tied with Colorado, 33-33, but got strong second halves from the trio of Gerald Robinson, Travis Leslie, and Jeremy Price to post a nine-point win, 83-74, over Colorado Tuesday evening in the new-look Stegeman Coliseum.
Robinson posted 16 second-half points to help the Dawgs (2-0) to their second win of the season. Colorado falls to 1-1 on the early year.
“That was a real hard-fought game,” said head coach Mark Fox. “We beat a well-coached Colorado team who I was extremely impressed with. This is a good win for our team. We got off to a great start, got in some foul trouble and gave up the lead but I was proud that we were able to play well and come back down the stretch.”
Georgia opened up an early lead on the Buffaloes and would continue to grow the advantage over the majority of the opening period. Georgia went up by its largest margin of 17, at 31-14, with 6:28 to go in the first before Colorado made a run to close the gap. CU brought it to eight with 4:27 left, and would continue chipping as it followed a late Connor Nolte free throw with a trey for Levi Knutson to tie it at 33 with 52 seconds remaining. That’s where it would stay at the intermission.
Leslie and Price had seven apiece for Georgia at the break.
Georgia held onto a slim lead over the first seven minutes of the second half before opening the gap once again. A pair of free throws from Leslie, followed by a steal and dunk for the Decatur native, brought the Dawg lead to six, 52-46, with 11:29 to go. Robinson sank two free throws moments later as Georgia still lead by seven, 56-49, with 9:54 on the clock. But Colorado embarked on an 7-0 run starting at the 8:28 mark to take a two-point lead with 6:13 to go and still led, 64-63, with just under five remaining.
Georgia fought back on some late free throws, back out in front by eight, 80-72, with just 21 seconds left as Robinson converted on a lay-up off a rebound from Dustin Ware on the defensive end. Ware went to the line late, followed by Robinson, as Georgia tacked on a couple more to finish it out with the nine-point lead, 83-74.
Robinson ended with a game-high 21 points, followed by 19 for Leslie and 17 for Price. Leslie and Chris Barnes each grabbed eight rebounds for Georgia. Colorado’s leading scorer was Alec Burke with 21 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the line.
Robinson added six assists. Georgia outrebounded the Buffaloes, 40-35.
Georgia is next in action this Saturday, November 20th at St. Louis. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET.