INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Earl Calloway scored 14 of his career-high 22 points in the second half, and foul-prone Indiana used a late 28-5 run to give coach Kelvin Sampson his first victory as a Hoosier—91-66 over Lafayette in Monday’s first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Indiana (1-0) won its 11th season-opener in 13 years and now plays in-state rival Butler, a 71-69 winner over Notre Dame, in Tuesday’s Midwest Region championship game. The winner advances to New York next week.
Lafayette (1-1) was led by Jamaal Hilliard and Bilal Abdullah with 11 points each and meets the Fighting Irish in Tuesday night’s consolation game.
The Leopards kept it close for most of the night during a ragged, sloppy game.
The two teams combined for 44 turnovers and 52 fouls, enough to draw several choruses of boos from the predominantly Hoosier crowd at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Indiana appeared to take control early when it jumped to a 26-10 lead, but the Leopards closed the half on a 14-4 run to get within 42-37.
Andrew Brown’s 3-pointer with 14:57 to go cut the gap to 51-50, and they were as close as 59-57 with 9:53 left.
But with three of Indiana’s starters on the bench, Calloway rallied his teammates.
He scored four straight points and when Errek Suhr and Roderick Wilmont hit back-to-back 3-pointers as the Hoosiers finally pulled away.
Calloway added nine assists five rebounds, while Wilmont finished with a career-high 24 points.
