Colorado cruises past Colorado St. 93-65 behind Simpson’s 27

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — KJ Simpson scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half and Colorado cruised to a 93-65 victory over Colorado State on Thursday night.

Colorado (5-5) shot 64% (21 of 33) in the second half, finished 57% (38 of 67) overall and grabbed 19 more rebounds.

Simpson, the Buffaloes’ leading scorer averaging 16.2 points, made five 3-pointers, finished 10 of 18 from the field and was three points shy of matching a career best.

Tristan da Silva had 15 points for the Buffaloes. Nique Clifford added 13 and Luke O’Brien 10.

Isaiah Stevens scored 15 points and Taviontae Jackson had 10 for Colorado State (6-4).

Simpson scored five points during a 10-2 run that gave Colorado a 38-30 lead at the break. Simpson then helped open the second with seven points during a 21-10 surge, and the Buffaloes led 59-40 with 13:25 to play. O’Brien’s dunk stretched the Buffaloes’ lead to 28 points with about six minutes to play.

Deion Sanders, who was named Colorado’s head football coach on Saturday, was in attendance during the second half.

Colorado will look for its second straight win when it hosts Northern Colorado on Dec. 18. Colorado State returns home to face Peru State on Sunday.

___

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