TUCSON, Ariz. — Tied at 71-71, UAB and Arizona appeared headed for overtime.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Arizona’s Jamelle Horne was called for an intentional foul near midcourt with .8 seconds left, and Paul Delaney III hit a free throw to lead the Blazers to a 72-71 victory on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

The Blazers (3-0) will meet No. 12 Oklahoma, which beat No. 21 Davidson 82-78, in Madison Square Garden on Nov. 26.

“We were prepared to go into OT,” UAB’s Lawrence Kinnard said. “When he fouled Paul, it was like a blessing.”

It seemed more like a curse for Arizona (1-1), which staged a valiant rally only to lose in stunning fashion.

“The kids are in there (in the dressing room), you’ve got guys bawling their eyes out,” Arizona interim coach Russ Pennell said.

Robert Vaden scored 20 points and Kinnard added 16 for UAB, which hit 13 of 30 shots from beyond the arc.

Arizona’s Jordan Hill scored 13 points and pulled down a preseason NIT-record 22 rebounds, while Chase Budinger had 27 points and Nic Wise had 14 points and nine assists.

The Wildcats trailed 47-33 two minutes into the second half and by nine points with 4:39 to play. But they tied it at 70 when freshman Kyle Fogg scored on a putback with 25 seconds to play.

Then Fogg, apparently not realizing the score was tied, fouled Aaron Johnson on the inbounds pass.

Arizona caught a break when Johnson missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The Wildcats rebounded and called timeout.

Wise dribbled down the clock, then missed a fallaway jumper with three seconds to play.

Overtime seemed certain. But Delaney emerged from a scramble on his own baseline and raced toward midcourt. Before he could fire off a last-gasp heave, Horne grabbed him.

“I saw the guy with the ball going 94 feet,” a distraught Horne said. “The last thing I wanted to do was for somebody to go down for an uncontested shot. I didn’t see anybody in front of me so I tried to foul him. The ref called — I don’t know, whatever he called.

“Hopefully, we all take this as a learning experience,” Horne said. “I know I will.”

As the McKale Center crowd watched in shock, Delaney hit one free throw and UAB inbounded the ball to clinch the win.

No. 15 Arizona St. 59, San Diego St. 52

At San Diego, James Harden scored 18 points and the Sun Devils (2-0) got the road win by outscoring San Diego State 18-8 over the last 6:27.

No. 19 S. California 73, New Mexico St. 60

At Los Angeles, Taj Gibson tied his career high with 22 points and had 10 rebounds as the Trojans got off to their first 2-0 start in eight years. Dwight Lewis added 16 points for the Trojans, who opened the 2000-01 season with an 8-0 record.

Washington St. 55, Fairleigh Dickinson 33

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State’s Nikola Koprivica scored 10 points as the Cougars beat Fairleigh Dickinson 55-33 Tuesday night. Five freshman played for Washington State (2-0,) including Klay Thompson, who added nine points in 27 minutes.

Stanford 103, Cal State Northridge 85

STANFORD, Calif. — Anthony Goods scored 15 of his 25 points in the first half to lead Stanford past Cal State Northridge 103-85 on Tuesday night and hand first-year coach Johnny Dawkins his first home victory.

California 87, San Francisco 74

BERKELEY, Calif. — Theo Robertson scored a career-high 23 points with a career-best five 3-pointers to go with four assists and California held off San Francisco 87-74 on Tuesday night, playing on Pete Newell Court a day after the Hall of Fame coach died at age 93.

Washington 78, Cleveland St. 63

SEATTLE — Jon Brockman had 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead Washington past Cleveland State 78-63 in its home opener on Tuesday night.

Portland State 81, Portland 76

PORTLAND — Jeremiah Dominguez scored 23 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead Portland State to an 81-76 victory over the University of Portland Tuesday night.

Jamie Jones added 14 points for the Vikings (2-0) and Andre Murray chipped in 10 points.

Nik Raivio paced Portland (1-1) with 19 points. Robin Smeulders and Jared Stohl each had 16 for the Pilots.