LPC squandered a 6-point lead with a minute-and-a-half left Friday night in falling to Sacramento City 76-74 in the semifinals of the Tony Costello Tip-Off Classic in Livermore.

The Hawks (2-1) will play in Saturday’s 2 p.m. third-place game against Columbia, which lost to Butte 77-68 in the other semifinal. Butte and Sac City play for the tournament title at 4 p.m.

Kameron Johnson scored 16 points for LPC, followed by Cameron Moses with 15, Aaron Berry with 14, and Keith Hunter with 10.

LPC trailed most of the first half before entering halftime down 34-31. It was 44-35 before the Hawks went on an 11-2 run—punctuated by a Berry steal and layup and a Johnson bucket inside—to pull even at 46-46.

Sac City quickly regained the lead and held it for the next 10 minutes until LPC exploded for 10 straight points to surge ahead 70-63 with 3:17 left. Hunter scored the first six points of that spurt, then assisted on a Berry layup before Moses capped the scoring with a driving layup.

The Hawks led 74-68 with 1:28 remaining after a reverse layup by Johnson, but unfortunately for LPC, those were the last points it would score. Two free throws and a 3-pointer pulled the Panthers within 74-73 with 36.5 seconds left.

LPC then turned the ball over on its next possession before Sac City scored inside to go ahead 75-74 with 26.7 left. Moses missed on the other end, the Panthers then rebounded and made 1 of 2 foul shots with 1.3 remaining. After a timeout, Moses’ long inbounds pass was intercepted, ending the game.

In the consolation bracket Friday, Contra Costa eliminated Diablo Valley 70-66, and Mendocino sent Siskiyous home with a 75-69 victory. Contra Costa and Mendocino play in Saturday’s consolation game at noon.