Senior guard Sedrick Barefield scored 26 points, 18 in the second half, as Utah held on to earn a 75-66 victory over Grand Canyon on Friday in the Wooden Legacy Tournament at Fullerton, Calif.
Sophomore forward Donnie Tillman scored 14 points for the Utes (3-2), who will face Northwestern on Sunday in the tournament's fifth-place game.
Sophomore forward Alessandro Lever scored 16 points for Grand Canyon, which trailed by 16 points in the first half, but cut Utah's lead to just one point, 48-47, with 9:53 remaining on a jump shot from senior forward Matt Jackson.
Barefield responded with consecutive 3-pointers as Utah went on a 10-3 run to regain control. Barefield was 9 of 16 from the field and 4 of 8 from 3-point range. Utah shot 50 percent from the field (24 of 48) to Grand Canyon's 43.2 percent (19 of 44).
Freshman guard Tim Finke scored five of his 14 points over the final 1:34 for Grand Canyon. Senior guard Trey Drechsel added 10 points for the Antelopes.
Grand Canyon (3-3) will face La Salle in Sunday's seventh-place game of the tournament. La Salle enters with an 0-6 record.
Utah has now won all three matchups against Grand Canyon going back to 2010. It was the first meeting on a neutral court. Grand Canyon is now 0-5 all-time against Pac-12 teams.
Freshman forwards Riley Battin and Both Gach each added 10 points for Utah. Gach made six free throws in the final minute of the game to help seal the victory.
Utah grabbed an early 10-2 lead and pushed it to 24-8 midway through the first half. But Grand Canyon went on an 11-2 run for a 26-19 deficit and later a 5-0 run to close out the first half and trail 35-29 at halftime.
The Utes did not build the lead back up to double digits until less than four minutes remained in the game, when freshman forward Timmy Allen made a free throw.
Utah was 8 of 20 from 3-point range after going 7 for 26 from distance in a tournament quarterfinal defeat to Hawaii on Thursday.
--Field Level Media
Grand Canyon | Utah | |
Alessandro Lever 16 | Scoring | Sedrick Barefield 26 |
Damari Milstead 4 | Assists | Parker Van Dyke 4 |
Oscar Frayer 4 | Rebounds | Novak Topalovic 6 |
Alessandro Lever 7 | Free Throws Made | Both Gach 8 |
Gerard Martin 1 | Steals | Timmy Allen 1 |
Alessandro Lever 1 | Blocks | Brandon Morley 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Grand Canyon | 66 | 43.2 | 9-24 | 19-26 | 12 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
Utah | 75 | 50.0 | 8-20 | 19-22 | 12 | 27 | 2 | 3 | 13 |