The 3-point line can erase a lot of mistakes in a hurry.

San Francisco tied a Diamond Head Classic record with 23 turnovers but used 16 3-pointers to knock off Utah 89-86 in the opening round on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Remu Raitanen nailed four from beyond the arc and Ronnie Boyce had a team-high 19 points to lead the Dons (9-2), who knocked off the only Power 5 conference team in the tournament in the Pac-12’s Utes (7-3), who had a season-high 21 turnovers.

“Obviously it was a wild game,” said USF coach Kyle Smith, who was twice a finalist for the Hawaii head coaching job. “Our program hasn’t had a lot of success against the Pac-12. It’s a good confidence boost for our program, being able to compete.”

Seven different Dons connected on 3-pointers as USF never trailed in the second half after leading 39-35 at halftime.

USF led by as many as 15 before the Utes mounted a furious rally led by guard Sedrick Barefield, who scored a game-high 35 points on only 15 shot attempts.

Barefield, a transfer from SMU who was playing in his second game with Utah, scored eight points in the final 2:06 to bring the Utes to within 84-82.

Raitanen swished a 3 from the top of the key to put the Dons back ahead by five. Barefield then drove the lane for a layup to make it a one-possession game.

Two free throws by Lorenzo Bonam made it a two-point game with 39.1 seconds remaining and Utah forced a shot-clock violation to get the ball back with a chance to tie or win.

Barefield brought the ball up but was called for a charge with 4.4 seconds remaining, drawing a loud objection from Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak.

“It’s a pretty dysfunctional night, yet we still were in the game,” Krystkowiak said. “It’s a tough bang-bang play. I didn’t see a charge. Our issues were inability to defend the 3-point line.”

USF shot 57.1 percent (16-for-28) from deep to tie a tournament record for 3s made set by Brigham Young last year against New Mexico.

USF’s 9-2 start under Smith, a first-year head coach, is its best since the 1999-2000 season.

All 11 players who got into the game scored.

“We haven’t been able to settle in on a tight rotation,” Smith said. “We’ve been playing well against a pretty favorable schedule. These were the best teams we’ve played thus far. For sure it’s a great win.”

Utah hasn’t been able to solidify its rotation either, with both Barefield and David Collette, a Utah State transfer, playing in just their second games.

The Utes lost leading scorer and rebounder Kyle Kuzma, one of two Pac-12 players averaging a double-double this season, to an injury in the first 47 seconds of the game. He didn’t return and after the game was wearing a walking boot and using crutches to get to the bus.

“It’ll be a trip to get X-rays and hopefully no breaks,” Krystkowiak said. “It didn’t look good and he was in an awful lot of pain. It wouldn’t strike me as something we’ll see him bounce back from.”

Collette, who had 11 points in a win over Prairie View A&M on Saturday, finished with 18 points before fouling out.

Devon Daniels added 11 points, Bonam had 10 and Tyler Rawson had nine points and nine rebounds in 37 minutes for the Utes.

Tulsa 74, Stephen F. Austin 51

The Golden Hurricane advanced to the semifinals thanks to a strong effort from their reserves, who outscored the Lumberjacks’ bench 42-15.

Pat Birt made six of seven 3-point attempts to lead Tulsa (6-4) with 20 points off the bench. SFA (4-6) of the Southland Conference was held to 32.7 percent shooting to 50 percent for former WAC member Tulsa.

San Diego State 66, Southern Miss 51

The Aztecs, the 2012 DHC runners-up, pulled away late in their quarterfinal after the Golden Eagles made it a game — USM clawed to within five points with 12 minutes left. SDSU (6-4) got 16 points and 13 rebounds from forward Zylan Cheatham to help put it away.

Raheem Watts led the Eagles (3-7) with 14 points.