Oscar da Silva is impressed with guard Bryce Wills’ development as a basketball player.

Wills, who was a game-time decision to start because of a sore ankle, scored 19 points, including a key layup in the final minute, and Stanford beat No. 21 Colorado 72-64 on Sunday at Maples Pavilion.

“He’s made huge progress,” said da Silva, the Cardinal forward who added 16 points. “He’s much more confident now and is making the big bucket.”

Daejon Davis and Tyrell Terry each had 12 for the Cardinal (20-9, 9-7 Pac-12), who won their fourth straight.

“It was truly questionable if Bryce was able to play all the way through warm-ups,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said. “He is a warrior and played to his strengths.”

Tyler Bey scored 17 points to lead the Buffaloes (21-9, 10-7), who lost a third straight game for the first time this season.

“There’s nobody to blame but ourselves,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “Our defense wasn’t good enough against UCLA, wasn’t good enough against Cal, and it wasn’t good enough against Stanford.”

Wills gave Stanford a 65-52 edge with 8:13 remaining, and then the Buffaloes scored 10 straight.

Wills ended a nearly four-minute drought with a short jumper and Colorado missed its next seven shots.

“We cut it to three, but coming out of a timeout, we turned it over,” Boyle said. “We got two turnovers in the second half taking the ball out of bounds, and they’re not pressing. It’s hard to credit Stanford when you’re just inept at taking the ball out of bounds.”

Except for a two-point deficit early, the Cardinal led the majority of the game.

“We know we’re a team on the bubble,” Wills said. “We talked about at the end of this game we’d either be out of the tournament or still having a chance.”

The Cardinal head into the final weekend assured of a winning conference record and can finish as high as a second-place tie. Stanford improved to 3-19 against Top 25 teams under Haase.

Rick Eymer is an Associated Press writer.