COL BKB: Arizona St. 65, Southern Ill. 51

TEMPE, Ariz., March 21 (UPI) -- James Harden scored 16 points and Arizona State used a late first-half run in a 65-51 victory Thursday over Southern Illinois in a second-round NIT game.

The Sun Devils improved to 21-12 and advanced to a quarterfinal against the winner of Friday's game between Creighton and Florida. The Southern Illinois Salukis ended their season 18-15.

Arizona State led 25-23 midway through the first half before going on the telling 14-2 run. The Sun Devils' Ty Abbott dropped in a layup with less than four minutes to go in the period to make the score 39-25 and the Salukis couldn't threaten the rest of the way.

Harden's 16 points was backed by 12 from Jeff Pendergraph and 11 from Abbott. Pendergraph also had 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

Randal Falker had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Southern Illinois, which shot just 29.3 percent from the field.