The Colorado Buffs (8-3, 2-2) protected their perfect record at home against the Oregon Ducks (8-2, 3-1) by once again defeating Altman’s squad in Boulder, this time by a score of 79 to 72.

BOULDER, COLORADO - Despite a season-high game from Chris Duarte (27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 1 assist), Coach Tad Boyle and senior guard McKinley Wright IV were able to stay one step ahead of the low-flying Ducks as the Colorado curse worked its usual magic in the contest.

Jeriah Horne hit the game’s opening shot and the Buffs earned a 6-2 lead early on, but back-to-back buckets from Eugene Omoruyi tied it at six apiece with 16:24 in the opening half. Colorado responded by scoring six unanswered points, then Oregon capped off a 9-0 run with a triple from Chandler Lawson that gave the Ducks their first lead of the night, 15-12.

Lawson’s three-pointer came at the 11:29 mark in the first half and was the first made three-pointer of the evening. Neither team shot the deep ball very well (Oregon finished 7 of 19, Colorado 7 of 26), especially in the first half where the Buffs managed to make just two of their 14 three-point attempts and the Ducks just three of their 10.

Duarte’s first made shot was a triple with 5:18 left before the half, and he followed it up with a layup that gave Oregon its largest lead of the night at 24 to 19. However, McKinley and Horne led Colorado to a 33-31 lead at the half

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Dominant play from Horne, McKinley and Eli Parquet helped the Buffs start the second half with a 14-2 run and build a 14-point advantage quickly, but the plucky Ducks fought hard to keep Colorado within single digits.

Unfortunately, when the pivotal stops needed to be made late in the game—namely after a Duarte triple cut the lead to four with 1:53 remaining—the Ducks simply weren’t able free themselves of the Colorado curse, which has left them a 0-10 record in Boulder.

Shortly after Duarte’s momentous late-game three-pointer, Lawson was called for goaltending, which put the game just out of reach for the Ducks. Evan Battey’s flawless 8-of-8 free throw shooting came in clutch for the Buffs in the end.

For the tenth game in a row, Omoruyi scored double digits with 18 points. The rest of the starters, not including Duarte, scored a combined 19 points: LJ Figueroa tallied 10, Amauri Hardy six, and Eric Williams Jr. three points. Lawson was the only other Duck to score, coming off the bench to contribute eight points, three rebounds, two steals, and two assists.

The Ducks look to improve on their shooting (against the Buffs: 48.3 percent, 29-of-60 from the floor) as they take on the Utah Utes this Saturday in Salt Lake City.

BOX SCORE

GO DUCKS!

NEXT UP: @ UTAH

Saturday, 6:30 PM, PAC-12 NETWORK