George King torched the Washington State men’s basketball team for 21 points and led Colorado to an opening-round Pac-12 Tournament victory Wednesday afternoon, effectively ending WSU’s season in disappointing fashion.

With the 80-56 victory, the Buffaloes (22-10, 11-8 Pac-12) all but guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament, while the Cougars (9-22, 1-18) dropped their 17th straight contest.

WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent commended his team for staying positive throughout the season in the face of a ton of adversity, but conceded the Cougs didn’t have what it took to extend their season Wednesday.

“We had a situation in this game, (the Cougars) just had no more mental left,” Kent said in the post game news conference. “They had no more mental to rise up to a Colorado team that couldn’t afford to lose to us in talking about going to the NCAA tournament.”

WSU hung around for most of the first half as it trailed by just five after the first 11:30, but redshirt sophomore guard George King scored 11-straight Colorado points to cue a 17-4 run for the Buffaloes before the half. King scored a game-high 17 points in the opening period en route to a 41-22 halftime lead.

“It’s a great feeling, especially after being in a slump the last couple games,” King said in a Colorado press release.

With a block by junior center Valentine Izundu and a steal down low by junior guard Ike Iroegbu in the first couple minutes of the game, the Cougars’ interior defense looked more polished than it had in the regular season. However, Colorado picked up the slack from outside, knocking down three of their first four 3-point attempts to take a 13-6 lead into the first media timeout.

The Cougars’ defense in the post looked improved, sophomore forward Tory Miller was able to pick up a couple put-backs on the offensive glass, including a tip-slam off a miss by senior forward Josh Scott, to continue the Buffaloes’ hot start. Scott went scoreless in the first half, but dropped six in the second and also dished five assists for the game.

While Colorado seemed to be unable to miss from the field in the first half, the Cougars couldn’t buy a bucket. WSU failed to make a 3-pointer on its six attempts, and the Cougars also didn’t score a field goal off the fast break.

“For the most part, we made them work for everything they got,” Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle said.

Since the game was far out of reach in the second half, Kent got the opportunity to play all 13 members of his squad, and work with some mixed lineups. With 12 minutes to play, Izundu was the only WSU starter in the game, and both Cougar freshmen, guard Viont’e Daniels and forward Robert Franks, were in the lineup as well. Daniels ended up hitting a 3-pointer for his lone score in 12 minutes of work.

The biggest highlight of the second half was a series by Colorado that involved junior guard Josh Fortune knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and Miller taking a pass from junior forward Wesley Gordon and throwing down a two-handed slam on consecutive possessions to give Colorado a 77-48 lead with 3:40 to play.

Junior guard Ike Iroegbu led the Cougars with 13 points, and fellow junior guard Que Johnson chipped in 11. Junior forward Josh Hawkinson pulled down 14 rebounds, but came up two points shy of breaking his own school record for double-doubles – he ended the season with 20.

Hawkinson already announced he will stay in Pullman for his senior season, for which Kent praised him.

“I think it shows a tremendous amount of character and loyalty to his school,” Kent said. “Here’s a guy that has all those double-doubles and yet he’s in an environment where he’s not had the chance to have success and have a winning season yet. He is sticking with it.”

The Cougars have now lost their last eight Pac-12 Tournament games.

With the victory, the Buffaloes will take on the No. 15 Arizona Wildcats in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. today. The Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the game.

Reporting by Dustin Brennan