UC Irvine outlasts North Texas to reach NIT title game

INDIANAPOLIS — There are games that become shootouts, won by the last team standing in a display of offensive firepower that sends the crowd home breathless.
Then there are the ones you might call rock fights, where the hoop becomes a resource guarded tooth and nail with ferocity.
Tuesday night’s NIT semifinal between UC Irvine and North Texas was a rock fight.
UCI shook off an early 15-point deficit and prevailed, 69-67, with a series of hard-nosed stops and tough, timely baskets at