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 the latter.

UCI shook off an early 15-point deficit and prevailed, 69-67, with a series of hard-nosed stops and tough, timely baskets at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Anteaters (32-6), who didn’t take their first lead until there were just over nine minutes left, held off North Texas (27-9) with stingy defense, crucial rebounds and key free throws in the final minutes.

Devin Tillis had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Bent Leuchten had 14 points and nine rebounds and Justin Hohn (12 points, eight assists) and Myles Che (11 points, five assists) both hit their share of clutch shots in the second half to help the Anteaters set a program record for single-season wins.

UCI advances to its first NIT championship game and will face Chattanooga (28-9), which defeated Loyola-Chicago, 80-73, on Thursday at 6 p.m. PT.

“I’m playing for pride and respect,” Tillis said. “You know, we came up short in our own (Big West) tournament, and obviously that was disappointing. But we have another chance to redeem ourselves in a way, and come out on top. And I want to play for the name on my chest, my community and obviously my brothers who don’t have any more years left.”

The Anteaters shot 49% from the field (9 for 18 from 3-point range) and held North Texas to 34% overall (7 for 18 from behind the arc). UCI, which overcame 17 turnovers, held perhaps the most important edge of the night in a category not found in the box score: big-time shots.

For that, it can credit Hohn. A sixth-year graduate guard who has played more than 150 games in a UCI uniform, Hohn made three 3-point shots in the final 10 minutes and each one was critical.

He gave the Anteaters their elusive first lead at 43-41 on a high-arcing 3-pointer with 9:16 left, pounding his chest afterward.

His second 3-pointer gave the Anteaters a 57-54 lead with a little more than four minutes left, but the lead changes weren’t over.

With less than 2:40 to play, UCI’s Devin Tillis collected a teammate’s errant floater for a second-chance layup and a 59-57 lead.

Fairmont Prep product and Mean Green senior guard Atin Wright (25 points) then charged down the court, and the Anteaters abandoned all else to stop him. Wright saw teammate Rondel Walker left alone in the corner, and dished to the senior guard, who sank a 3-pointer — his only basket of the night — to give the Mean Green a 60-59 lead.

But the Anteaters had Hohn, who kickstarted a 7-0 run.

On the next possession, with the shot clock and game clock winding down, Hohn made a contested step-back 3-pointer off one foot for a 62-60 lead with 1:35 left and UCI never trailed again.

“I’ve been here six years now,” he said afterward. “I’ve always heard shoot with confidence. That’s going through my mind.”

He found his “butter,” he said, as in bread and butter.

UCI coach Russell Turner saw the shot as something of a favor from whichever gods control postseason basketball.

“We made big plays in big moments with a little bit of luck on our side coming down the stretch,” he said. “Which is often what it takes to win these games.”

Leuchten made two free throws with 1:03 left, then Jurian Dixon converted a fast-break layup on a pass from Che for a 66-60 lead with 40 seconds left.

Wright made a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game again with seven seconds left, but North Texas was forced to foul and Leuchten made two more free throws with six seconds left for a 69-64 lead before Wright made a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The comeback continued a trend for UCI in the 32-team tournament. The Anteaters have trailed either at halftime or in the second half of all four of their games, but they’ve found a way to advance despite their warts.

For North Texas coach Russ Hodge, the UCI turnover total might as well have been printed in red on the box score.

“You look at a stat sheet, you only had five turnovers, and the other team had 17,” Hodge said, “you shoot 70 shots, you get 21 more shots, you’re probably going to feel pretty good about it.”

North Texas found good looks among its 70-49 field-goal attempt advantage, Hodge said, but they “just didn’t go down.”

Wright got his 25 points on 15 field-goal attempts, but his North Texas teammates shot just 33%.

The Mean Green have thrived on limiting opponents’ assist numbers, but the Anteaters racked up 18 on their 24 field goals.

North Texas scored the game’s first nine points and opened a 24-9 lead a little more than 10 minutes into the game, but Turner urged his players to rise to the occasion.

“I encouraged them to raise their level of play,” Turner said of that spot in the game. “I did that with some language of intensity at times, which is what I often do.”

They responded. The Anteaters shook off their early shooting woes, regrouped and forged a 30-all tie by halftime, mixing some turnover creation of their own as their jumpers started to fall. UCI missed nine of its first 11 shots on the way to its early deficit, but closed the first half making eight of its last 12 from the field.

The Anteaters tied the score on a flurry of 3-pointers, two from Tillis and one from freshman guard Torian Lee.