Uncasville, Conn. • Bryant McIntosh and his Northwestern teammates put forth a strong defensive effort in the first half to help them beat La Salle.
McIntosh scored 21 points and Scottie Lindsey added 20 to lead the No. 20 Wildcats to an 82-74 win over La Salle in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday.
“In the first half we came out ready to play,” said McIntosh, who hit five 3-pointers and had seven assists. “We really defended and held them to 24 points.”
The Wildcats (3-1) advance to play Texas Tech in Sunday’s championship. Northwestern has not won an in-season tournament since the 2013 South Padre Island Invitational.
Derek Pardon added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats. Aaron Falzon chipped in 11 points.
Northwestern made 12 of 21 3-point attempts and shot 56 percent from the field. It was the second straight game the Wildcats made a dozen 3-pointers after going 12 of 28 against Creighton.
“We have a good shooting team, especially now when you add Aaron Falzon,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “We have a number of guys out there that can come in there and do that.”
After suffering its first loss of the season to Creighton, 92-88 on Wednesday, Northwestern struggled early against the Explorers (3-1). Tied 13-13, the Wildcats loosened up with a 9-1 run that was capped by Lindsey’s layup at 9:38 to make it 22-14.
Northwestern dominated inside and out the rest of the first half on the way to a 46-24 lead.
No. 19 Purdue 106, Fairfield 64 • In West Lafayette, Ind., Dakota Mathias had 23 points, while Vince Edwards had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Purdue which made a school-record 19 3-pointers.
Mathias, Edwards and P.J. Thompson — all seniors — were a collective 13 of 15 from beyond the arc during the first 20 minutes when the Boilermakers (4-0) built a commanding 58-28 lead against the Stags (2-1).
Carsen Edwards scored 18 points with six assists and Thompson finished with 12 points.
Fairfield, which entered allowing only 62 points a game, gave up 58 in the first half.
Purdue shot 51.4 percent from the field (38 of 74), including 19 of 31 from 3-point range (61.3 percent).
Tyler Nelson led Fairfield with 16 points.
No. 22 Seton Hall 82, NJIT 53 • In Newark, N.J., Desi Rodriguez scored 19 points and Seton Hall used an 18-2 second-half run to pull away.
Sophomore Myles Powell added 13 points and freshman Myles Cale had a 3-point basket and a three-point play in the big run in helping the Pirates (4-0) win their 20th straight non-conference game at the Prudential Center. Cale finished with 11 points.
Khadeen Carrington added nine points as the Pirates beat NJIT for the sixth time in as many games. Freshman Sando Mamukelashvili collecte 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
Abdul Lewis had 10 points to lead the Highlanders (1-2).
No. 24 West Virginia 111, Morgan St. 48 • In Morgantown, W.Va., Daxter Miles had a career-high 32 points to lead West Virginia.
The Mountaineers (2-1) had control from the start, opening the game with a 14-3 run.
WVU finished the game shooting 45 of 77 (58 percent) from the field.
Jevon Carter added 16 points for West Virginia while Beetle Bolden had 13 points and freshman Teddy Allen added 10.
Lapri McCray-Pace and Martez Cameron led Morgan State (2-2) with 10 points each.