UNCASVILLE—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.
”I thought we had great energy in the first half,” Collins said. ”We built the lead and I thought we executed really well, made shots.”
B.J. Johnson led La Salle with 22 points and seven rebounds. Johnson scored 15 points in the second half as the Explorers tried to comeback from a double-digit deficit by shooting 67.9 percent (19-for-28).NU shot 62.1 percent (18-for-29) overall in the first half to La Salle’s 31.3 percent (10-for-32).