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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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Critical factors at play in Astros' showdown with Athletics
May 27, 2025, 2:20 pm
Christian Walker hit a game-winning, two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
WALK(ER) - OFF.#BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/n6sZvAux3Y
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 25, 2025
The game was tied at 3 when Jose Altuve singled with no outs in the ninth. Walker, who had three hits, then sent a fastball from Casey Legumina (4-2) into the seats in left field to give the Astros the walkoff victory and 3-1 series win over the AL West leaders.
Walker's big game came after the struggling first baseman had just three hits combined in his previous seven games.
Bryan King (3-0) struck out Randy Arozarena to end Seattle’s ninth and manager Dan Wilson was ejected for the first time in his career for arguing with home plate umpire Laz Diaz after the call.
Seattle had runners on first and third with one out in the eighth when Ben Williamson hit a grounder to second baseman Mauricio Dubón. He threw home in time to get J.P. Crawford out at the plate before Leo Rivas grounded out for the third out.
The Astros loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Isaac Paredes grounded out to leave everyone stranded. That came after they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but came away empty after Seattle turned a double play.
Jake Meyers was on first with two outs in the sixth when Cam Smith laced an RBI double down the right field line to tie it at 3.
Seattle starter Luis Castillo allowed nine hits and three runs with six strikeouts in six innings. Castillo threw 114 pitches Sunday to tie Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene for most pitches thrown in a game this season.
Houston’s Colton Gordon allowed seven hits and three runs in five innings in his third major league start.
Julio Rodríguez had three hits and Mitch Garver drove in two runs for the Mariners.
Rodríguez and Arozarena hit consecutive singles with two outs in the first before Garver made it 2-0 on his double to center.
There were two outs in the third with Rodríguez on third when Donovan Solano singled on a grounder to left field to extend the lead to 3-0.
Houston cut it to 3-1 on an RBI single by Walker with one out in the bottom of the third. A sacrifice fly by Caratini that Leody Taveras jumped to catch on the warning track scored Altuve to make it 3-2.
Key moment
Walker's walkoff home run gave him three RBIs, tying a season high.
Key stat
The teams combined to go 4 for 22 with runners in scoring position.
Up next
Both teams are off Monday before Houston opens a series with the Athletics and Seattle gets a visit from Washington on Tuesday night.