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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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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.