Devon Beitzel scored 28 points, including the go-ahead basket with 1:31 remaining, to lead Northern Colorado to an 82-80 victory over New Mexico State in a BracketBusters game Saturday.
Beitzel scored on a backdoor layup to put the Bears (15-10) up 80-78. Neal Kingman added a free throw with 56.6 seconds to play for Northern Colorado, then Taylor Montgomery drew a charge on New Mexico State's Hernst Laroche with 4.1 seconds left to seal the win.
Chris Kaba and Kingman added 15 points each for the Bears, and Montgomery scored 11.
Laroche led New Mexico State (14-13) with 19 points. Troy Gillenwater and Gordo Castillo each had 13.
Northern Colorado hit 9 of 14 3-pointers in the first half en route to a 52-43 lead, then missed all 11 shots from long range after the intermission.
