Auburn takes down Nevada, earns spot in NIT semifinals
Filip Jovic registered 18 points and nine rebounds and top-seeded Auburn beat visiting Nevada, the No. 2 seed, 75-69 in a quarterfinal NIT matchup Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-8 freshman forward was 9 of 12 from the field and had four offensive boards.
The Tigers (20-16) got 16 points and six assists from Tahaad Pettiford. Elyjah Freeman scored 15 points, and Keyshawn Hall posted 14 points and six boards.
Auburn increased the nation's longest nonconference home winning streak to 67 straight games, which began during the 2016-17 campaign.
The Tigers will face No. 4 seed Illinois State, which defeated No. 3 Dayton 61-55 earlier Wednesday, next Thursday in a semifinal contest in Indianapolis.
Elijah Price totaled 22 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for the Wolf Pack (24-13). Vaughn Weems netted 15 points, while Corey Camper Jr. had 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Pettiford knocked down a 25-footer at 15:27 to give the home side its largest early lead, 16-8, inside the first five minutes.
Jovic's offensive rebound and slam dunk, his third basket, at 8:35 put the Tigers up 24-13, and Hall and Freeman made consecutive deep shots for a 30-14 advantage just over a minute later.
Camper, the Wolf Pack's leading scorer at nearly 17 points per game, put in a layup to cap an 8-0 run that made it 30-22 at 4:26.
Jovic grabbed a long rebound, used a crossover dribble past the last defender and raced half of the court for a vicious slam and a 34-24 lead.
His 12 points and six rebounds paced the way as Auburn, which committed just one turnover, led 38-26 at halftime.
Nevada's Price had 11 points and six boards at the break, but the squad made just 10 of 28 field goals (35.7%).
The Southeastern Conference school increased the advantage to 16 at 10:58 of the second half when Sebastian Williams-Adams threw down a dunk for a 53-37 lead.
The Mountain West Conference visitors trimmed the margin to six on Myles Walker's jumper with 28 seconds left, but Auburn held on for its 20th win and a spot in next week's semifinal.