Sophomore point guard Glynn Watson Jr.'s pair of free throws with 8.8 seconds left erased Dayton's only lead and gave Nebraska an 80-78 victory in a Wooden Legacy quarterfinal Thursday night at Titan Gym.

Watson finished with a game-high 20 points and 5 steals for Nebraska (4-0), which will play the winner of Portland/UCLA on Friday night. Sophomore center Ed Morrow earned career-highs with 19 points and 10 rebounds while senior guard Tai Webster added 16 points before fouling out.

Dayton (2-2) placed four scorers in double figures led by senior guard Charles Cooke's 17 points. Sophomore forward Xeyrius Williams contributed 15 points and senior point guard Scoochie Smith added 13.

Dayton took its only lead of the game with 15.4 seconds to go when its full-court pressure forced a turnover and Smith drove down the lane for a layup.

Watson responded by attacking the basket and earning 2 free throws, both of which he sank to regain a 79-78 lead with 8.8 seconds left. With Dayton out of timeouts, Smith slashed to the hoop again but his contested layup banged off the board and rim with three seconds left. Morrow seized the rebound and sank a free throw for the final margin. Dayton's long inbounds pass was broken up at the buzzer.

Nebraska bolted to a 14-4 lead less than four minutes into the game as the Cornhuskers made their first seven shots -- five of them layups against Dayton's depleted frontcourt. Nebraska pushed the margin to 21-7 on freshman forward Isaiah Roby's dunk with 11:06 left in the first half.

Dayton transformed that 14-point deficit into a 26-26 tie with 5:13 to go as sophomore forward Sam Miller, Williams and Cooke started the rally with 3-pointers. Louisville transfer Anton Gill's 3-pointer snapped the Flyers' run and kick-started Nebraska's run that led to a 40-31 lead at intermission.

Nebraska cruised through much of the second half with a double-figure lead, but Webster went out with his fourth foul at the 8:50 mark. Shortly, thereafter, Williams and sophomore guard John Crosby canned back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Dayton within 59-53 with 7:54 to play and force the Cornhuskers to call a timeout.

Dayton's defense earned another stop, but Crosby couldn't convert a driving scoop and Gill and Morrow made consecutive layups to restore the lead to 10 points. That's when both teams started trading big shots. Xavier's Williams cashed a 3-pointer, so Watson answered with a 3-pointer at the other end and Cooke responded with a 3-pointer for Dayton.

Dayton played without two forces in the frontcourt -- senior Kendall Pollard and sophomore Josh Cunningham. Pollard's knee injury leaves him with a small chance to play during the Wooden Legacy tournament while Cunningham could be lost for the year with torn ligaments in his ankle.