Jaden Henley scored a game-high 18 points in Grand Canyon’s 68-58 victory over Utah on Tuesday in the Acrisure Classic at Palm Desert, Calif.
The Lopes (4-2) will play Iowa (6-0) on Wednesday in the championship game, while Utah (5-2) will face Ole Miss (5-1) in the third-place game.
Freshman Efe Demirel had a career-high 12 points, Brian Moore Jr. finished with 11 points and Nana Owusu-Anane tallied nine points and nine rebounds for Grand Canyon.
Don McHenry led Utah with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Keanu Dawes added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Utes shot 41.2% (21 of 51) from the field, 31.3% (5 of 16) from 3-point range.
Grand Canyon prevailed despite shooting just 39.7% from the floor (23 of 58) and 0 of 10 from long distance.
The Lopes started with an 11-3 lead behind six points from Henley.
A 12-4 run by Utah, feating eight points from Jacob Patrick, who made two 3-pointers, put the Utes ahead 20-19 midway through the first half.
Grand Canyon led 33-28 at halftime behind Henley, who made all six of his free-throw attempts as part of his 10 points in the first half.
The Lopes scored eight unanswered points early in the second half to take a 41-29 lead with 16:36 remaining.
Seydou Traore’s 3-pointer with 8:23 left cut the margin to 47-41, but Owusu-Anane and Caleb Shaw responded with dunks on consecutive possessions for Grand Canyon.
Moore made 1 of 2 free-throw attempts with 7:07 left to give the Lopes a 52-41 lead.
Grand Canyon got a dunk by Henley, two dunks by Demirel and a hoop from Makaih Williams to take a 60-46 lead with 3:25 remaining.
Although Grand Canyon was outrebounded 40-33, the Lopes outscored Utah 40-30 in the paint.
Grand Canyon also struggled from three free-throw line, making 22 of 32 (68.8%).
Utah committed 14 turnovers that contributed to Grand Canyon having a 17-0 edge in points off takeaways.
