Nebraska Falls To Colorado at Big 12 Tournament

KANSAS CITY ----- Nebraska fell behind early and mounted a comeback but was not able to get over the top as Colorado held on for a 67-60 victory in the first round of the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament here Thursday.

Senior guard Cary Cochran paced the Huskers with 22 points, including six three-pointers, but the Huskers' 29.7 percent shooting from the floor proved costly. Freshman Jake Muhleisen added 13 points while freshman John Turek added seven points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Turek set the NU freshman record with 162 rebounds this season, while tying the Husker rookie mark with 39 blocked shots.

The Huskers, who finished the season with a 13-15 mark and seventh-place finish in the Big 12 standings, fell behind early, trailing 12-0 before freshman Corey Simms put NU on the board a free throw with 15:14 left in the first half. Nebraska's first basket came just a minute later when junior Wilson Thomas connected on a layup to make the score 14-4 in favor of the Buffaloes (15-13).

Colorado increased the lead to 20-4 at the 12:45 mark before Nebraska mounted a rally. The Huskers limited Colorado to just four points over the next eight minutes as they went on an 18-4 run to pull within two points, 24-22, on a paif of John Robinson II free throws with 4:29 to play before intermission. The Buffaloes then used a 7-2 run to end the half ahead by seven, 31-24.

In the second half, Cochran started to hit from the outside, as he had five of his six three-pointers in the period. Cochran sandwiched a pair of treys around a Corey Simms' three-pointer to give NU a 9-0 run that cut the deficit to just four, 48-44, with 8:34 to play. But the Buffaloes scored seven of the next 10 points to put the lead back to eight and held on for their second victory over the Huskers this season.