SIU's Falker finishes off Mississippi St.
Once Randal Falker got loose, it was pretty much over for Mississippi State.
Falker scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half, and No. 19 Southern Illinois won 63-49 in the Anaheim Classic on Friday at Anaheim, Calif.
The Salukis (3-0) advanced to Sunday's championship game, where they'll play either Southern California or Miami (Ohio), which met later Friday. The teams take today off.
Falker helped SIU pull away in the second half after leading by 4 at the break. He scored 13 of their first 15 points, while the Bulldogs (3-2) struggled with turnovers, finishing with 21.
"In the first half, they did a great job double-teaming me," Falker said. "I had to take my time and work on little things and get to the line and try to score."
Joshua Bone added 15 points, all on 3-pointers, for the Salukis.
"We were going to Randal pretty much every possession, and they went to zone and Josh pretty much broke it," said Salukis guard Bryan Mullins, who had 8 assists.
Jamont Gordon led Mississippi State with 20 points, becoming the first player to score 20 or more against the Salukis in nine games dating to last season.
"Gordon was phenomenal," Salukis coach Chris Lowery said. "We wanted to make him work harder in the second half and trap him further from the basket."
Southern Illinois shot 44 percent against the Bulldogs, who had held opponents to 32 percent on the season.
The Salukis set up their early second-half run when Bone hit three 3-pointers over the final 1:50 of the first half, and his first one tied the game at 26-26 before his next one gave the Salukis the lead for good.
Once Falker got Southern Illinois rolling, the Bulldogs never got closer than 5 points. Gordon's fourth 3-pointer pulled them to 47-42 before Bone hit back-to-back 3s that stretched Southern Illinois' lead to 11 points, and it stayed in double-digits the rest of the way.
"They threw the first punch of the second half," Bulldogs coach Rick Stansbury said. "We had no answer for (Falker) in that post."
The Salukis made 8 straight free throws in the final 5½ minutes, including 2 by Mullins after he was intentionally fouled by Gordon, prompting Southern Illinois' large group of fans to chant "you can't do that."
"They're about as tough physically as any team I've been associated with in 10 years at Mississippi State," Stansbury said. "You can't fight back against that kind of team over and over. They probably outweighed us 25 pounds per person."
The Bulldogs didn't hit a field goal in the final 2½ minutes.
BYU 78, Louisville 76: Jonathan Tavernari hit five 3-pointers while scoring a career-best 29 points, and Brigham Young (5-0) capitalized on No. 6 Louisville's (3-1) injuries and weariness for a victory in the Las Vegas Invitational.
Trent Plaisted added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Cougars as they held a narrow lead for most of the game with the inside-outside punch of their top two scorers, who scored all but 6 of BYU's second-half points. Tavernari's 3-pointer with 2:27 to play put BYU up 74-67, and the Cardinals couldn't rally to avoid the upset.
Texas 102, New Mexico St. 87: A.J. Abrams had career bests of 31 points and nine 3-pointers to lead No. 15 Texas (4-0) over New Mexico State (2-3) in the semifinals in the StubHub Legends Classic at Newark, N.J.
D.J. Augustin added 25 points, Connor Atchley had 15, and the Longhorns hit 16 3-pointers in a wide-open contest that paired schools that played a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament in March.
Texas A&M 70, Ohio St. 47: Reserve guard Derrick Roland scored a career-high 15 points, and No. 16 Texas A&M (6-0) held Ohio State (3-1) to 1 field goal in the first 11½ minutes of the second half in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off at New York.
The Aggies were ahead 31-25 at halftime and then turned on the defense, holding the Buckeyes to 1-for-17 shooting to open the second half at Madison Square Garden.
Pittsburgh 92, Buffalo 45: Sam Young started host No. 17 Pittsburgh (5-0) on an early 22-point run with a one-handed dunk, a 3-pointer from the baseline, a blocked shot and a steal, and the Panthers rolled over Buffalo (2-3).
Young, playing a much bigger role in Pitt's offense, ended with 20 points in 23 minutes and had 8 rebounds.
Kansas St. 73, UCF 71 (OT): Freshman Michael Beasley had 30 points, Jacob Pullen added 19 and No. 18 Kansas State (4-1) beat Central Florida (2-2) in the Old Spice Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Jermaine Taylor had 20 points, Dave Noel scored 15, and Mike O'Donnell added 14 for Central Florida, which forced overtime after overcoming a double-digit second-half deficit.
Villanova 84, George Mason 76: Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points, and No. 20 Villanova (4-0) beat George Mason (4-1) in the Old Spice Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Shane Clark and Malcolm Grant added 13 points each for Villanova, which advanced to Sunday's championship game against North Carolina State.
Syracuse 91, Washington 85: Freshman Donte Greene scored 25 points, and No. 21 Syracuse (4-1) overcame some poor free-throw shooting over the final two minutes to beat Washington (3-2) in the third-place game of the NIT Season Tip-Off at New York.
Eric Devendorf had 18 points and freshman Jonny Flynn 16 for the Orange, which finished 34-for-52 from the free-throw line (65.4 percent).
Florida St. 65, Florida 51: Jason Rich had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Toney Douglas added 10 points, and Florida State (5-2) beat host No. 25 Florida (5-1) to snap the two-time defending national champions' 15-game winning streak.
Walter Hodge (11 points) and freshman Chandler Parsons (10) were the only players in double figures for the Gators.
Bradley 67, Iowa 56: Daniel Ruffin finished with career highs in points and steals to lead Bradley (4-1) over Iowa (4-1) in the third round of the South Padre Island Invitational at South Padre Island, Texas. Ruffin finished with 24 points and 5 steals, and many of his points seemed to come when Iowa moved within striking distance.
Bradley led 37-30 at halftime following a 3-pointer at the horn by Andrew Warren. The Braves then started the second half on a 10-3 run to take a 47-33 lead with 14:13 left before Iowa got as close as 5 points.
Justin Johnson finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds for Iowa.
Michigan 61, E. Washington 53: Manny Harris scored 19 points and Ron Coleman 14 as Michigan (3-2) hung on to defeat Eastern Washington (1-5) in the consolation round of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage, Alaska.
The Wolverines failed to score a field goal in the last four minutes but made 9 free of their 10 free-throw attempts in the final 1:43 to prevail.
Rider 82, Penn St. 73: Jason Thompson scored 21 points, and younger brother Ryan Thompson had 19, leading Rider (3-2) over Penn State (2-2) in the second round of the Old Spice Classic on Friday at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Rider led 74-69 with 2:24 remaining before Harris Mansell became the first of four Broncs to hit a pair of free throws down the stretch.
p class="News">UCLA 81, Yale 47: Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook had 15 points apiece, and No. 2 UCLA (6-0) breezed past Yale (1-3) for the Bruins' 24th straight home victory.
The already-hobbled Bruins had a pair of scares when Love and starting center Alfred Aboya left the floor with injuries. The freshman star Love, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, limped to the locker room with his left shoe off with just over seven minutes to play but ran back into the gym and waved to the crowd during a break and took his seat back on the bench with 3:45 to go.
And in the first half, Bruins starting center Alfred Aboya took an elbow to the left eye. He experienced blurred vision and was taken to UCLA medical center.
Tennessee 74, W. Virginia 72: Chris Lofton scored 19 points, JaJuan Smith made 5 free throws in the final 36 seconds, and No. 7 Tennessee (5-0) held off West Virginia (2-1) in the semifinals of the StubHub Legends Classic at Newark, N.J.
Wayne Chism added 17 points, and Smith finished with 15 for the Volunteers, who kept letting the Mountaineers back in the game after seeming to take control.
Tennessee will play Texas today for the title.
Butler 84, Va. Tech 78 (OT): Mike Green scored 12 points and had a key assist in overtime, and No. 22 Butler (5-0) beat Virginia Tech (2-1) in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout on Friday night in Anchorage, Alaska.
Green, who scored just 11 points in regulation, took over in the extra period. He scored the first basket in overtime on a drive in the key, sank 2 free throws and found Pete Campbell open for a 3-pointer along the baseline.
Virginia 100, Penn 85: Adrian Joseph had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Sean Singletary scored 16 points, and No. 23 Virginia (5-0) was unstoppable early on its way to win over Pennsylvania (1-4) in the Philly Hoop Group Classic.
The Cavaliers play Seton Hall today in the championship game of the Independence bracket of the inaugural eight-team tournament.