Simpson carries Colorado down the stretch beating Stanford

Updated Dec. 30, 2022 1:36 a.m. ET

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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — K.J. Simpson scored a career-high 31 points including the final 11 for Colorado and the Buffaloes beat Stanford 73-70 on Thursday night for their fifth consecutive win.

It was Simpson's second 30-plus point game of the season. The last Buffs player to do that was Derrick White now of the Boston Celtics.

Simpson's layup with 18 seconds remaining gave Colorado a 71-70 lead and he sealed it with two free throws with three seconds left. Stanford's Micahel Jones missed a late 3-point heave for the chance to tie it.

Simpson made a pair of foul shots with 2:06 left to give Colorado (9-5, 1-2 Pac-12) a 69-68 advantage for its first lead since a little past the midway point of the first half.

Luke O’Brien's three-point play gave Colorado a 17-8 lead with 12:54 before halftime before Jones responded with his own 11-0 run for the Cardinal and a 19-17 lead. Jones made a pair of 3-pointers in three consecutive possessions, a layup off his offensive rebound and another 3.

Stanford (6-7, 1-2 Pac-12) shot 14 for 28 before the break with five 3s and led 37-33 at halftime.

O'Brien, off the bench, scored 12 points and Lawson Lovering scored a career-high 10 on 5-for-6 shooting. Colorado now has won five straight over Stanford.

Spencer Jones scored 25 points for Stanford and Brandon Angel 10.

Colorado plays at Cal on New Year's Eve while Stanford host Utah the same day.

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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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