BOULDER, Colo. — In a back-and-forth contest that saw four first-half lead changes, Arizona holds a 39-35 edge at halftime over Colorado in the Coors Events Center.
Behind 12 points and four rebounds from forward Jesse Perry and nine points and three assists from point guard Josiah Turner, the Wildcats held off the surging Buffs to take a slim lead into halftime.
Arizona jumped out to an early 14-6 lead by forcing the Buffs to miss four of their first five shot attempts. But CU wouldn’t go away. The Buffs answered back with a vengeance to eventually take a 21-20 lead 9:22 remaining.
Arizona and Colorado traded baskets until a Turner And 1 gave UA a 33-32 lead with 3:59 left in the half and the Wildcats wouldn’t look back from there.
Following Turner’s And 1, Kevin Parrom finished a layup inside and Perry followed that up with a vicious And 1 dunk off of a steal and dish from Turner to give UA a 37-32 lead with 2:40 left.
From that point on the Wildcats would quiet 6-foot-5 guard Spencer Dinwiddie, 11 points, and Utah transfer Carlon Brown, seven points, for the remainder of the half.
UA’s defense proved solid in the first half, limiting CU to 44.0 percent shooting and 3-of-8 from three while out-rebounding the Buffs 16-12. Arizona’s offense, on the other hand, struggled at times as it turned the ball over seven times and made only two of its 11 triples.
Kyle Fogg and Solomon Hill both finished the half with seven points, although Fogg missed five of his six attempts from the field. UA’s bench converted only two of its seven field goal attempts.
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