B.J. Edwards recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Southern Methodist held Northern Iowa without a field goal for the final four minutes en route to a 73-63 opening-round NIT win on Wednesday in Dallas.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Northern Iowa’s Trey Campbell, the second with 4:10 to go, cut the Mustangs’ lead in half to 63-60. SMU (24-10) responded with five straight points from Chuck Harris and then a Kario Oquendo put-back.
The 7-0 run gave SMU a 10-point lead that proved insurmountable for the Panthers (20-13), and Oquendo’s basket was indicative of one of the game’s key developments.
The Mustangs outrebounded Northern Iowa 44-30, including an 11-2 advantage in offensive boards. SMU converted those offensive rebounds into 10 second-chance points, while the Panthers went without a second-chance point.
SMU also scored 16 points off turnovers to Northern Iowa’s seven, and 17 fastbreak points to the Panthers’ nine.
The Mustangs pushed the tempo to help overcome 3-point shooting woes on a night when they went just 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) as a team from beyond the arc. Two of SMU’s six made triples come in a critical stretch midway through the second half, however, both from Oquendo.
He knocked down the 3-pointers as part of a 18-5 Mustangs run that turned a six-point Northern Iowa lead into a seven-point SMU advantage. The Mustangs never trailed from that point.
Oquendo finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Harris added 12 points and five assists.
Edwards’ all-around outstanding performance included four steals, helping fuel SMU’s fastbreak offense.
Campbell led Northern Iowa with 16 points, shooting 4-of-10 from 3-point range. Tytan Anderson added 14 points. Ben Schwieger posted seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.
With the win, SMU, the top seed in its portion of the bracket, advances to face Oklahoma State in the second round on Saturday or Sunday. The Cowboys beat Wichita State 89-79 on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
