Colorado is headed back to the Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game for the first time since 2012.

The No. 23-ranked and 3-seeded Buffaloes defeated the No. 24-ranked and 2-seeded USC Trojans Friday night in the semifinals round, 72-70, in thrilling fashion, behind 24 points from McKinley Wright IV and 19 from Jeriah Horne.

Wright IV outdueled Pac-12 Player of the Year Evan Mobley, who dropped 26 points, and Horne came through with 14 critical second half points (12 of which were via his four made three-pointers) in a true battle of opposing wills.

After all, Southern Cal shot an astounding 60% from the floor in the final 20 minutes and the Buffs had a hard go of getting regular stops.

"I think the key was rebounding," Tad Boyle said after the win. "...When they shoot 60%, there's not a lot of offensive rebound to be had...Our guys out-rebounded them by eight (37-29) and I thought that was the difference in the game, quite frankly."

"It was kind of a heavyweight fight with them making shots, us making shots and we went some stretches where we could not stop them and we had no answer for them."

All in all, the game that sent the Buffaloes to their first shot at a championship in nearly a decade had more than one memorable moments.

First and foremost was the borderline horrific shot to the head that Wright IV absorbed early in the first half.

At the time, Colorado had gotten off to a good start and was leading USC, 13-7, when a rebound off a missed Mobley basket went up for grabs.

A scrum of players developed under the CU net to grab the ball but after the whistle blew, USC's Chavez Goodwin issued a nasty elbow directly to the head of Wright IV, who went down immediately and had to be escorted off the hardwood and into CU's locker room.

Goodwin was issued a technical foul and Horne was sent to the free throw line for Colorado.

In Wright's absence, Keeshawn Barthelemy entered the game and quickly drained back-to-back three-pointers, giving Colorado a 20-6 advantage with 11:11 before halftime.

"He knows how much I appreciate him and love him, so I'm excited for him," Wright IV said of Barthelemy. "I've told you guys this before, when I first say him, but he's getting stronger, his jump shot is getting fluid — he's learning."

If indeed Horne's trajectory as of right now is to play professionally overseas, someone needs to rip up his passport, because he has been absolutely invaluable to the Buffaloes in his lone year in Boulder.

Horne was ice cold to start the game. He came off the bench and quickly posted a 1-for-6 make rate in the first half, ending with five points, three of which came from the foul line.

But as he has proven multiple times before this season, despite coming off the bench, a cold start, whomever is defending him, etc. — Horne is simply not phased by anything.

In a second half that featured the Buffs struggling to get stops on a red hot USC offense, Horne was a guy consistently hitting baskets for Colorado when it was badly needed.

He erupted in the final 20 minutes, going 5-of-9 from the floor, with four of his made baskets coming from behind the arc. He also led the team with seven rebounds.

"Jeriah is a big shot taker and a big shot maker," Boyle said. "He's rhythm shooter. He missed some ones that he normally would make...but he got it going. Great shooters don't have a memory. He lets it go, his teammates believe in him and he believes in himself."

Given USC's offensive weapons, highlighted by Mobley, thinking that Colorado's early double digit lead would hold for the entirety of the game would have been naive.

And as it would have it, the Trojans did mount a substantial comeback, coming within nine points of Colorado at halftime and outscoring the Buffs by nine points in the second half.

The Buffs had four leads of 14 points and one lead of 15 points in the first half and Colorado did keep up a lead in the neighborhood of 10 to about the midway point of the second half.

But a free throw by Goodwin with 9:35 to play brought the Trojans within three points and about three minutes later Colorado's lead had dwindled to two.

From there, the Buffs got a bit of breathing room exclusively from Horne, who hit a pair of three-pointers and another jump shot to stimulate an 8-0 CU run.

In similar fashion to Thursday's quarterfinals game vs. Cal, just when it seemed like Colorado had done enough to cruise to victory, its opponent proved to have one more breath of life.

After a layup from Wright IV with 1:40 left to make the score 70-64, USC answered right back with a three-pointer 16 seconds later.

From there, the Trojans' Tahj Eaddy converted a basket plus the and-1 with 35 seconds remaining, tying the game at 70.

"This was an NCAA Tournament-level game — a second round or even a Sweet 16-type game — that's what tonight was," Boyle said. "Two teams that were very efficient, that battled and made big-time plays. This was a high-level basketball game."

D'Shawn Schwart's game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer last season in Chicago against Dayton will go down as one of the great moments in Colorado basketball history.

Against USC Friday, Schwartz once more endeared himself to CU fans, as he scored the winning basket that propelled the Buffaloes to the championship game.

The Buffs had called a timeout in the offensive zone to draw up a final play and it began with Wright IV eating some time off the clock to eliminate an opportunity for USC to have a lengthy final possession.

Wright IV eventually drove, pulled up and fired off a jumper that was no good, but Schwartz crashed the glass, one-handed the rebound and slammed it into the net with 3.3 seconds remaining in what would turn out to be the game-winning basket.

"The shot against Dayton last year, to win that game was a big-time win for our program and then tonight's tip, I mean, those are big-time finishes," Boyle said.

"The big thing for our team is we don't panic and we don't get our heads down...this team just has a resiliency, a fight, a belief in themselves and a toughness that is fun to be around."

Schwartz finished the game with nine points.

Up next for the Buffaloes is a showdown with the Oregon State Beavers Saturday at 8:30 p.m. MST for the Pac-12 Tournament Championship.