BOX SCORE | WASHINGTON STATE QUOTES | COLORADO QUOTES | NOTES

LAS VEGAS – Derrick White scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half, Xavier Johnson added 19 and Colorado rallied from a shaky first half to beat Washington State 73-63 Wednesday night in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.

Colorado (19-13) got off to a miserable start at both ends as Washington State raced out to a 19-point lead. The seventh-seeded Buffaloes whittled into the lead by halftime and overtook the Cougars in the second behind White, who made 8 of 15 shots.

Colorado hit 15 of 28 shots in the second half to complete the comeback, earning a spot in Thursday's quarterfinals against No. 7 Arizona.

Washington State (13-18), the tournament's No. 10 seed, lost all its mojo after a stellar first half to end the season in disappointment. Charles Callison and Ike Iroegbu scored 16 points each, and Josh Hawkinson had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Colorado entered the Pac-12 Tournament with NCAA Tournament aspirations and could not afford an early exit in the Pac-12 Tournament after closing the regular season with eight wins in 10 games.

The Buffaloes split with Washington State during the regular season, losing by two in overtime on the road, winning by 32 at home.

Washington State was the team looking for a blowout once the teams hit the floor in Vegas, using a 16-2 run to go up 25-9 midway through the first half.

The Buffaloes started to fight back late in the half, closing within 41-27. The Cougars hit 17 of 30 shots in the half, including five of eight from 3-point range.

Colorado picked it up even more to start the second half, hitting five of its first eight shots to pull within 45-42 in the opening five minutes. White had 13 points in that stretch.

The Buffaloes tied it at 49 and kept pushing, going up 59-52 on Johnson's three-point play on a tomahawk dunk in transition and pulled away over the final 90 seconds.