Houston Baptist tops NJIT 74-64 to reach Great West tournament final

Houston Baptist defeats NJIT 74-64

OREM, Utah — Andrew Gonzalez scored 24 points to lead Houston Baptist past NJIT 74-64 Friday night in the Great West Conference tournament semifinals.

Houston Baptist (12-20) will face regular-season champion South Dakota in the title game Saturday night. The conference, playing its first full season schedule and postseason tournament, does not get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Huskies led 21-7 in the first 8 minutes before NJIT (10-21) came back to lead 37-34 at halftime.

Miles Dixon scored 15 points, Wendell Preadom scored 11 and Mario Flaherty had 10 rebounds for Houston Baptist.

The Highlanders had four players in double figures. Chris Flores, who was 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, finished with 17 points. Sammy Schickel scored 14, Jheryl Wilson 13 and Isaiah Wilkerson 11.