Ebuka Okorie scored 25 points for Stanford in a 72-68 win against Minnesota on Thursday evening in their opening game at the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif.
Benny Gealer scored 14 points and Chisom Okpara had 11 points for Stanford (5-1), which will play Saint Louis in the championship game on Friday evening.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 23 points and Cade Tyson had 19 points for Minnesota (4-3), which will play Santa Clara in a consolation game on Friday.
Ryan Agarwal missed the front end of a one-and-one with 19 seconds left in the game, and Isaac Asuma hit a 3-pointer on the other end two seconds later for Minnesota to cut it to 68-67.
Gealer went to the line with 5.3 seconds remaining and made two free throws to give the Cardinal a 70-67 lead, and Okorie sealed it with two free throws with two seconds left.
Minnesota used a 17-1 run to move ahead of the Cardinal in the first half and then maintained a three-point lead at halftime.
Gealer tied it 36-36 with a 3-pointer with 18:49 left in the game, and he sank another 3-pointer to move the Cardinal back ahead 39-36.
After a three-point play by Crocker-Johnson cut the deficit back to three, Okpara made back-to-back baskets to give the Cardinal their biggest lead of the game at 50-43 with 12:57 left.
The Cardinal then answered a 5-0 run by the Golden Gophers with five straight points of their own, but Minnesota eventually moved back ahead 58-57 on two free throws by Crocker-Johnson with 7:02 left.
The Golden Gophers didn’t hold the lead for long, as Okpara scored inside and Gealer hit a 3 on the next possession to give Stanford a 62-58 lead with 6:15 to go.
Stanford scored five straight points to take its biggest lead of the first half at 13-7, but then went 7:10 without a field goal.
The Golden Gophers took that opportunity to blow past the Cardinal and move ahead 24-14 on a 3-pointer by Tyson with 6:51 left in the half.
Stanford didn’t let the margin swell any larger, however, holding Minnesota scoreless the final three minutes of the half and finishing on a 6-0 run to cut it to 34-31 at the break.
–Field Level Media
