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Arizona pounds Colorado

Feb 23, 2014 - 5:46 AM Boulder, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Aaron Gordon scored 23 points with eight rebounds as No. 4 Arizona pounded Colorado, 88-61.

Nick Johnson added 20 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Kaleb Tarczewski gave 13 points and six boards for the Wildcats (25-2, 12-2 Pac-12), who have won four of their last five.

"We certainly played well, no question about it, our defense had a lot of energy," said Arizona head coach Sean Miller. "We shot the ball well from the field, once we got through our early free-throw drought we really settled in from an offensive perspective."

Josh Scott scored 18 points with eight rebounds, and Askia Booker had 10 points for the Buffaloes (20-8, 9-6), who had won five of six coming in.

"Well, my hat goes off to Arizona; they whipped us tonight in every which way you can whip a team," said Colorado head coach Tad Boyle. "Our fans and our seniors deserve better than they got tonight and for that, I'm truly sorry. It was a disappointing performance by our team and I have to look square in the mirror on that, as their coach; I didn't do a very good job tonight."

Colorado didn't get its first field goal until halfway through the game when Jaron Hopkins hit a 3-pointer, but by that point Arizona had a 22-8 lead.

The Buffaloes, though, later got seven straight points to get back into the contest, and Booker hit a bucket near the end of the half and the team trailed, 31-25, going into the break.

Colorado was able to keep it close over the first several minutes of the second half, and Dustin Thomas' layup made it a 37-33 game three minutes in.

Gordon, though, countered with a 3-pointer and a layup, and the Wildcats later used a 15-2 run to essentially put the game away.

Johnson hit a pair of free throws to cap the run for a 66-43 lead with under eight minutes to play and Arizona led be as much as 30 points down the stretch.

Game Notes

Arizona hosts California on Wednesday ... Colorado plays at Utah next Saturday ... The Wildcats posted a regular-season sweep of the Buffaloes, winning in Tucson on Jan. 23. Colorado, though, still owns an 11-10 advantage in the series.