HONOLULU — Ronnie Boyce scored 19 points off the bench, Chase Foster and Remu Raitanen added 12 points apiece and San Francisco held off Utah 89-86 in a quarterfinal game of the Diamond Head Classic Thursday night. ADVERTISING HONOLULU —
HONOLULU — Ronnie Boyce scored 19 points off the bench, Chase Foster and Remu Raitanen added 12 points apiece and San Francisco held off Utah 89-86 in a quarterfinal game of the Diamond Head Classic Thursday night.
Boyce shot 6 of 13 from the field and scored 12 of his points after halftime to lead the Dons (9-2).
San Francisco shot 52.5 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent (16 of 28) on 3-pointers. Seven different players hit a 3-pointer — Raitanen made 4 of 5, Boyce 3 of 4 and Foster 3 of 5.
Utah got off to a hot shooting start, but trailed USF at halftime 38-35.
The Dons led by 15 following a step-back 3-pointer by Boyce with 13:11 left to play. However, Utah got to within 88-86 after Lorenzo Bonham drained a pair of free throws with 39 seconds remaining.
The Utes got the ball back with a chance to tie or go ahead with 9.1 seconds, but USF’s Matt McCarthy drew a charging call on Sedrick Barefield and Frankie Ferrari made the second of two free throws with 1.6 seconds left to stretch it to 89-86.
Jojo Zamora’s desperation shot from near half court was well short as time expired.
Barefield came off the bench to score 25 of his game-high 35 points after halftime and David Collette added 18 to pace the Utes (7-3).
The teams combined for 44 turnovers.
In the late game, Illinois St. beat host Hawaii 71-45.
Deontae Hawkins led the well balanced Redbirds with 16 points and six rebounds.
UH lost its third game in a row for the first time in the Eran Ganot era. Brocke Stepteau and Noah Allen each had 10 for the Rainbow Warriors.
San Francisco, which has now won five of its last six games, advanced to Friday’s semifinal round and will face Illinois State.
Utah, which had won three of its last four games entering Thursday, will face Hawaii in a consolation game Friday.
