Isaiah Johnson scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half and the Colorado Buffaloes beat the San Francisco Dons 79-69 on Thursday in an Acrisure Classic opener in Palm Desert, Calif., on Thursday.
Barrington Hargress contributed 15 points and Elijah Malone and Bangot Dak scored 13 points each for Colorado (6-0). The Buffaloes will face the winner of Washington-Nevada for the title on Friday while San Francisco will face the loser.
Ryan Beasley and Junjie Wang had 13 points each and Tyrone Riley IV added 12 points for the Dons (5-2), who led by two at halftime.
Malone came out strong to start the second half, scoring seven points in the first 3:34 to put Colorado in front, 44-43. The teams then traded baskets and exchanged the lead four times before forging a 49-49 tie with 14 minutes left.
Mookie Cook’s turnaround jumper gave the Dons the lead, but Josiah Sanders answered with a putback and Johnson converted a three-point play to give the Buffaloes the lead for good at 54-51. Sanders and Felix Kossaras made buckets to extend the advantage to 61-55, and it stayed a six-point advantage until a layup by David Fuchs with 7:09 left.
Kossaras hit a 3-pointer out of a timeout, Saba Gigiberia missed two free throws at the other end and Sebastian Rancik drained a 3-pointer to give Colorado a 71-61 lead with 5:24 left.
Riley hit a layup while the Buffaloes went cold — missing three shots and one free throw and committing one turnover. Veniamin Abosi’s 3-pointer with 3:05 left got San Francisco within 71-66 and it had a chance to get closer, but committed a turnover.
Hargress completed a 3-point play with 2:22 left to make it an 8-point game and Dak’s alley-oop slam from Hargress with 48 seconds left sealed it.
Colorado led by five midway through the first half before the Dons went on a 13-2 run to take a 28-22 lead. San Francisco led by as many as seven in the first 20 minutes before the Buffaloes closed to within two at halftime.
