Auburn is the last power-conference program standing in the NIT as it prepares to host Nevada in a quarterfinal game Wednesday night.
The No. 1 seed Tigers (19-16) fought off a hard charge by Seattle University Sunday night in a 91-85 victory.
The win kept coach Steven Pearl’s squad home for one final game, which will help set the semifinals on April 2 on Butler’s campus.
Kevin Overton scored 23 points, 16 in the second half, after Auburn led the visitors 42-31 at halftime.
Seattle held a 54-49 scoring edge in the second half, but the Tigers outrebounded the Redhawks 41-23 overall and made 24 free throws compared to the West Coast Conference squad’s seven.
Afterward, Pearl talked about his defense’s shortcomings but credited his group for putting up 91 against Seattle’s 29th-ranked scoring defense.
“Obviously, we aren’t a good defensive team,” Pearl said. “That’s something that we’ve got to improve in the offseason. We’ve just got to find ways of trying to limit teams from scoring more points. They made 16 3s. The problem is that their best shooter is the one that hit seven of them.
“Our recognition of personnel wasn’t great.”
Overton has averaged 22 points in the two NIT wins by sinking 11 of 22 3-point shots.
Keyshawn Hall (15 ppg), Elyjah Freeman (11.5) and Tahaad Pettiford (10) also have averaged double figures.
With the triumph, the Tigers extended the nation’s longest nonconference home winning streak to 66 games — a stretch that began Nov. 11, 2016.
Second-seeded Nevada (24-12), a 73-63 winner over Liberty in its second-round home finale, got a triple-double from Corey Camper Jr. (10 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) as the Wolf Pack finished 17-2 at home.
Coach Steve Alford was pleased with the output of 6-foot-10 center Joel Armotrading, who missed 16 games in the middle of the season with a chest injury.
“I thought Joel was as good as he’s been,” Alford said after the senior produced 10 points (6-for-6 at the line), five rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes. “We’re starting to see what it would’ve looked like if we’d have had Joel the whole year being healthy.”
Nevada features four scorers in double figures for the year: Camper (16.8 ppg), Elijah Price (12.6), Tayshawn Comer (11.3) and Vaughn Weems (10).
–Field Level Media
