KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun watched his Aggies capture the NIT Tip-Off championship with a 61-57 win over North Texas. Mason Falslev scored 28 points as he was 10-of-16 from the field with five threes.
“Our kids are tough and we have got a really good defense,” said Calhoun. “We have a level of toughness and togetherness that’s really, really special. It’s a fun group to coach.”
Falslev buried a three-point field goal off the left baseline where he was fouled and made his free throw for a 46-44 lead with 7:07 remaining. USU would never trail again.
“You’re seeing Mason Falslev really grow up wanting the ball, commanding the ball and protecting the ball at a real high level,” noted Calhoun. “I don’t know of a kid that is playing better ball in the country. The kid really works at it. I thought everything we ran, our guys were so willing to get him the ball. They knew he was the guy tonight.”
North Texas pulled out to a 25-18 lead just before halftime as Atin Wright made a pair of threes, but Falslev drove the lane for a layup and nailed one of his triples to cut the score to 25-23 at halftime.
Utah State came into the tournament averaging 98 points per game in it’s first five contests, but North Texas is know for it’s defense over the years and the Mean Green limited the Aggies to only 46 field goal attempts and the Aggies shot 43.5 percent.
Defensive play was an entity for the Aggies who held North Texas leading scorer Atin Wright to only five of his 17 points in the second half as they ran a 3-2 zone with length on the perimeter to keep Wright at only 6-of-18 for the evening.
The Aggies have held opponents to just 41 percent from the field and only 64 points per game. North Texas shot only 36.1 percent from the floor and made just 7-of-30 three-point shots.
“I’m a big analytics guy, so study the numbers,” explained Calhoun. “We can only control ourselves, so we have to control what we can control.”
St. Bonaventure 68, Northern Iowa 56 – The Bonnies went on a 12-4 run over the last 3:23 of the first half and erased a four-point deficit in winning the ESPN Events Tournament finale. Melvin Council, Jr. hit back-to-back three-pointers to giuve SBU a 38-32 halftime advantage.
The Bonnies’ speed and athleticism allowed them to take control of the game as Dasonte Bowen scored of a layup for a 49-36 lead with 15:08 to play. Bowen, one of four Bonnies who average double figures on the season scored 17 on Saturday to lead all scorers.
St. Bonaventure outscored the Panthers, 14-4, off the fast break and scored 21 points off of 17 turnovers where the Bonnies procured 14 steals.
Northern Iowa, one of the favorites to win the Missouri Valley Conference, was led by 14 points from Tytan Anderson.