SAN DIEGO -- Demetrius Denzel-Dyson scored a game-high 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting to lead Samford to its season-opening win against San Diego 83-65 on Monday night.

The game was the first matchup of the four-game San Diego Classic.

Denzel-Dyson started the game making all of four of his 3s in less than four minutes to put the Bulldogs up 14-3. Nassir Barrino converted two free throws to pull San Diego within 27-22 with 3:19 to play before halftime, but Samford closed on a 10-3 run to end the half.

San Diego (0-2) could only get the deficit to single digits once after halftime off Barrino's steal and layup less than a minute gone by after halftime.

Samford's Wyatt Walker scored 16 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds. He was one of five players scoring in double figures for the Bulldogs.

Olin Carter III led San Diego with 15 points and Barrino had 14.