West Virginia’s deficiencies offensively were too much for the Mountaineers to overcome Wednesday against Colorado.

The eighth-seeded Mountaineers scored 33 points over the final 28 minutes, squandering a 13-point lead and falling 67-60 to the No. 16 Buffaloes at T-Mobile Center.

Colorado (14-19) finished 3-17 in the Big 12, but won its third straight game and second in as many days after defeating TCU by two points Tuesday.

WVU (19-13) scored at will early, utilizing 13 points from Javon Small over the first 11:30 to lead 25-12. When Joseph Yesufu made a jumper 28 seconds later, the Mountaineer lead was still 13 and they had made 10-of-18 shots at that point.

West Virginia then suffered through a scoring drought just south of 6 minutes and its only offense the remainder of the half came on a Toby Okani basket 2:24 before halftime. Still, the Mountaineers led 29-23 at the break thanks in large part to the Buffaloes having eight field goals and seven turnovers.

While West Virginia’s offensive struggles carried over throughout the second half, CU picked up its production in a major way over the final 11 minutes to rally for a victory.

After Mountaineer freshman Jonathan Powell came up with a steal that led to a traditional three-point play, the Mountaineers led 42-33 with 11:35 remaining.

From that point forward, starting with Elijah Malone’s layup 45 seconds later, Colorado outscored WVU 34-18.

Malone scored the first six of those 34 points and again with 7:24 to play, allowing the Buffaloes to trail 46-44.

Smith ran off the next five points, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 6:03 left.

Okani’s dunk with 3:22 to play broke a stretch of more than 6 minutes without a basket and made the deficit five for WVU, which managed just one point over that time and trailed 54-49.

The Mountaineers got to within one possession with 2:13 left when Amani Hansberry made two free throws for a 56-53 deficit.

Malone scored in response, and Smith’s three left the Buffaloes in front 61-53 with 1:07 to play.

CU shot 14 for 23 after halftime and 22 for 49 in the contest.

Small led all players with 23 points and added five assists. Okani scored 11 in defeat.

Hansberry, the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer, was held to two points and without a field goal on five attempts.

WVU finished with 21 field goals and 15 turnovers.

Malone’s 14 points led Colorado, while Smith scored 13 and Andrej Jakimovski added 11.

Colorado takes on top seed Houston in a quarterfinal Thursday.

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