Bobby Durkin hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give visiting Minnesota a 63-61 win over Cincinnati on Monday.
The Bearcats had two chances to put the game away in the final 10 seconds, but Myles Colvin and MJ Collins both missed the front end of one-and-ones.
Collins missed with five seconds left, and Isaac Asuma grabbed the rebound and threw a cross-court pass to Durkin to set up the winner. Durkin had missed all five of his previous 3-point attempts.
Kyan Evans had 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Golden Gophers (3-0). Jaylen Crocker-Johnson put up 11 points and Asuma had 10 with seven rebounds.
Tylen Riley scored 25 points, including six 3-pointers, and Tyler Tejada had 10 points for Cincinnati (2-1).
Neither team led by more than eight in the second half. The Bearcats went on a 7-3 run to take a 61-54 lead with 2:37 left.
Crocker-Johnson hit a turnaround jumper with 1:35 to cut the margin to five for Minnesota.
Crocker-Johnson was called for a charge the next time down the floor, but the Bearcats threw the ball away underneath and Evans laid it in to make it 61-58.
Cincinnati turned the ball over again with 31 seconds left and Asuma cut it to 61-60 with a layup with 14 seconds left.
The Bearcats then came up empty at the line — sandwiched around a missed one-and-one shot by Asuma — leading to Durkin’s buzzer-beater.
The game was tied at 30 at halftime.
The Bearcats went on a 10-0 run over a four-minute span to take a 30-23 lead. Collins and Tejada made layups to give Cincinnati its latest lead of the half.
The Gophers finished the half with a 7-0 surge of their own to tie it at the break. Evans broke the Bearcats’ run with a 3-pointer with 3:38 to go and Grayson Grove scored on a dunk off an Evans assist to make it 30-28 with 2:46 left.
Evans finished the run with a jumper with 35 seconds left. Evans scored 16 in the first and added five rebounds and two assists.
Riley led the Bearcats with nine points before halftime.