Colorado 78, Nebraska 75

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- With a win Saturday over Nebraska, Colorado finished in no worse than a tie for fourth place in the Big 12 heading into the conference tournament.

And that, according to coach Ricardo Patton, ought to be enough to get the Buffaloes into the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.

"I just believe there is no doubt about it, that when you finish fourth in the Big 12, unless they're going to take only three teams, we ought to be in," Patton said. "Anything is possible, but we did what we had to do to put ourselves in position."

Added Colorado swingman Blair Wilson, "It would be heartbreaking to not get into the tournament and get cheated. That's up to the committee, and we trust they will put the best 64 in there. It's out of our hands now. Just try to win in Dallas."

David Harrison scored 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting and Michel Morandais added 23, leading Colorado to a 78-75 victory in a regular-season finale.

Colorado (18-9, 10-6 Big 12) prevailed despite making only 3-of-8 free throws in the final minute.

John Turek had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Nebraska (16-11, 6-10), and Nate Johnson scored 13.

Colorado, which led 33-28 at halftime, went up 49-40 on Marcus Hall's 3-point basket with 13:34 remaining.

Harrison added a rebound slam dunk and Morandais a 3-pointer, but Nebraska chipped away at the deficit. Johnson's three-point play and Brian Conklin's 3-pointer made it 61-61 with 6:36 left.

Wilson, who scored all 10 of his points in the final 7:54, hit two free throws with 3:30 left, and Lamar Harris followed with two more to give Colorado a 73-68 lead with 3:15 to go. Turek fouled out at that point.

Two free throws each by Andrew Drevo and Jake Muhleisen cut the deficit to 73-72 before Harrison hit a slam dunk on a pass from Harris for a 75-72 lead with 1:48 left.

After Hall missed two foul shots, Conklin hit another 3-pointer for a 75-75 tie with 20.6 seconds left.

Wilson made one free throw and missed the second with 5.2 seconds left, but Harris got the rebound and was fouled, also making 1-of-2 with 2.9 seconds to go.

Conklin's long inbounds pass was then intercepted by Harris, who was fouled and made 1-of-2 shots with 0.7 seconds left.

Drevo's desperation shot from beyond half court was off the mark at the buzzer.

"We got a couple of key stops late in the game, and the rebound that Lamar got off the free throw was huge," Patton said. "With as many shooters as they have, you are at their mercy if they come up with the rebound."

Nebraska coach Barry Collier agreed.

"We tried to put the right guy on the line as much as we could," he said. "But in the end they had another offensive rebound on the miss at the free throw line, and that was a real critical problem for us."

Collier said Harrison and Morandais "had great games. Harrison was in some foul trouble, but nonetheless he was just dominant inside. We didn't have an answer for him inside. Morandais, especially in the first half, got on a roll shooting the ball."

Morandais scored the last eight points of the first half to give the Buffaloes their halftime lead. Morandais had 15 points in the half, all in the last 7:41, and Harrison scored 11.

Harrison scored five straight points on a pair of rebound layups and a free throw as Colorado took a 16-10 lead with 8:37 left in the half.

Morandais' jumper made it 22-14, but Nebraska countered with a 14-3 run, including five points by Marcus Neal Jr. and four by Johnson, for a 28-25 lead with 1:59 left.

Morandais then hit two free throws and made back-to-back 3-pointers, the last with 36 seconds left.

"I was struggling, I think I missed my first four shots," Morandais said. "Then once you get the rhythm going, this is my house and the rim looked big."

On what likely was the final home game of the season, Patton started all five of his seniors: Morandais, Wilson, Harris, Amadou Doumbouya and Trennis Jones.