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Ryan Conwell matched his career high with 27 points and Robbie Avila had 26 points and 10 rebounds to help the top-seeded Indiana State University men’s basketball team take advantage of a heavily partisan home-state crowd to beat second-seeded Utah 100-90 on Tuesday night and advance to the National Invitational Tournament championship game.
Isaiah Swope added 15 points—all in the second half—and eight assists for Indiana State (32-6), which reached its first national tourney title game since Larry Bird took the unbeaten Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA title game against Magic Johnson and Michigan State.
A victory at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Thursday in Indianapolis against top-seeded Seton Hall (24-12) would allow the Sycamores to tie the 1978-79 team’s single-season school record for victories.
Tickets for Thursday’s 7 p.m. game at Hinkle, capacity 9,100, are officially sold out, but can be purchased on the secondary market.
The nation’s largest ticket reseller, Stubhub, had some tickets available early Wednesday in the upper sections of the venue priced at $119 each and sold in pairs. Tickets in lower sections ranged from $196 to $1,572 apiece.
Deivon Smith had a career high 28 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead the Utes (22-15), the last Pac-12 men’s team still playing in the league’s farewell season. Branden Carlson scored 17. Utah made 17 3-pointers, with Smith going 6-for-6.
It certainly wasn’t easy for Indiana State to take control. But once it did, turning a 10-2 run midway through the second half into a 63-56 lead, the Sycamores never trailed again and extended the margin to as much as 15.
Avila got it all started, scoring 11 points in the first eight minutes to help Indiana State build a 28-17 lead. But Smith led Utah back and helped the Utes take a 34-33 lead late in the first half. Then it became a back-and-forth contest until Indiana State’s decisive second-half push.
In Tuesday night’s second semifinal, Al-Amir Dawes scored 20 points, Dre Davis had 19 points and nine rebounds in a return to his hometown, and No. 1 seed Seton Hall routed fourth-seeded Georgia 84-67 to advance to the NIT championship game for the first time since winning the tourney in 1953.
Kadary Richmond added 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals for Seton Hall. Jaden Bediako had 14 points and seven boards, and Jaquan Sanders scored 11.
Silas Demary Jr. finished with 19 points, four assists and two blocks for the Bulldogs (20-17). Noah Thomasson added 10 points and RJ Melendez had nine.
Seton Hall started the game on an 18-3 run and led by at least nine points the rest of the way. Seton Hall’s largest lead reached 24, 62-38, with 13:22 left in the second half.
Seton Hall, which has won four straight games against SEC opponents, is playing in the month of April for the first time since its NCAA national championship game appearance against Michigan in 1989.
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