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No. 2 Houston overcomes J'Wan Roberts' ankle injury to beat Colorado
Mar 13, 2025, 5:05 pm
Houston beat Colorado, 77-68. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.
Emanuel Sharpe scored 19 points before fouling out, and No. 2 Houston overcame an injury to veteran forward J'Wan Roberts in the second half to beat Colorado 77-68 on Thursday and advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
LJ Cryer and Milos Uzan added 14 points apiece for the top-seeded Cougars (28-4), who will play No. 17 BYU — the No. 4 seed in the tournament — on Friday night for a spot in their second consecutive championship game.
Houston's postseason run a year ago was derailed by injuries, so it made sense that the bench tensed up when Roberts went down right in front of it with about 18 minutes to go. The Cougars' leading rebounder was helped to the locker room, where he was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain, and Roberts spent the rest of the game watching from the bench.
Andrej Jakimovski had 25 points for the Buffaloes (14-20), who won twice in the Big 12 tourney as its first No. 16 seed to finish a trying season on a high note. Leading scorer Julian Hammond III managed just nine points on 2-for-13 shooting.
The Cougars, who lost in the Big 12 title game to Iowa State last year, have won 11 consecutive games since losing in overtime to Texas Tech on Feb. 1. That streak includes another win over the Buffaloes in early February.
Takeaways
Colorado lost forward Sebastian Rancik to an injury in the first half. And without another body off the bench, the grind of playing three games in three days was evident as Houston wore the Buffaloes down in the second half.
Houston advanced to its seventh straight conference tournament semifinal. It won the American title in 2021 and '22.
Key moment
Colorado closed within 66-58 with 5 1/3 minutes left when Uzan hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cougars a cushion.
Key stats
Houston trailed for only 29 seconds in the game.
Up next
The Cougars play BYU in the semifinals. They won their regular-season matchup 86-55 in early January.
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José Soriano pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and Logan O'Hoppe hit a pair of two-run shots to end a long home run drought and help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Houston Astros 9-1 on Saturday night.
Soriano (5-5) struck out 10 and allowed one run on three hits and three walks. He has allowed just two runs in his last three starts covering 20 2/3 innings with 28 strikeouts. He hasn't allowed a home run since April 22 — a span of 11 starts.
O’Hoppe hit his 15th homer and first since May 22 in the third inning to give the Angels a 6-0 lead. The catcher capped the scoring with his second of the game in the seventh.
Jo Adell reached with a one-out infield single off Astros rookie Brandon Walter (0-1) in the second and Luis Rengifo followed with his fourth home run for a 2-0 lead.
Nolan Schanuel was hit by a pitch and Mike Trout singled and scored from first on a double by Taylor Ward for a 4-0 lead.
Jose Altuve walked and scored on a two-out single by Christian Walker in the fourth for the Astros, but the Angels answered in their half when Zach Neto doubled with two outs and scored on Schanuel's single for a 7-1 lead.
Walter allowed seven runs on nine hits in six innings in his fourth career start.
Key moment
The Angels never looked back after Rengifo homered in the second.
Key stat
Houston is 3-2 against the Angels this season and leads the overall series 133-85. That includes a 65-45 record at Angel Stadium.
Up next
Astros rookie RHP Ryan Gusto (4-3, 4.31 ERA) will start Sunday's rubber game against Angels RHP Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.79).