Andrej Jakimovski scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists Saturday as Colorado rallied in the second half to upset NCAA Tournament hopeful Baylor 76-74 in Big 12 play at Boulder, Colo.

RJ Smith added 13 points for the Buffaloes (11-16, 2-14 Big 12), who hit 58.3 percent of their shots in the second half and also made 13 of 17 free throws. Julian Hammond III contributed 12 points and Sebastian Rancik tallied 10 points.

Norchad Omier stood out with 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Bears (16-11, 8-8), his 15th double-double of the season and the 83rd of his career. But it wasn’t enough to prevent his team from suffering a bad loss that could affect its NCAA hopes.

Langston Love added 17 points, while Jeremy Roach and Jalen Celestine hit for 11 each. But second-leading scorer VJ Edgecombe, who was averaging 15 points per game, made just 2 of 9 shots and finished with eight points.

Trevor Baskin’s three-point play with 6:43 left gave Colorado the lead for good at 62-59, starting a 12-2 run that gave it a 10-point advantage with 4:32 left after two Bangot Dak foul shots. Edgecombe’s follow dunk with 4.0 seconds remaining got Baylor within two but it didn’t have enough time to finish the comeback.

The main storyline prior to tip-off was whether Baylor could take advantage of a softer stretch late in the season with three of its next four games against teams with no realistic chance of earning an NCAA bid.

But the Bears couldn’t get off the mark right away, managing just 10 points in the first 10 minutes and falling behind 18-12 with 7:24 left when Smith converted a short jumper off Baskin’s feed.

Baylor finally gained some traction late in the half behind Love, who scored 10 points in the final 3:51. The last three came on a 23-footer from the wing with a second left, enabling the Bears to take a 32-30 edge to the break despite making only 9 of 36 attempts from the field.

–Field Level Media