Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Minnesota
Minnesota Posts 77-63 Basketball Win
12/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Central Michigan University went more than five minutes without scoring here Saturday afternoon and the University of Minnesota took advantage of the drought by posting a 77-63 victory in men's basketball here Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 53-47 with 10:19 to play, the Gophers scored 18 unanswered points and never looked back to raise their record to 5-3. The Chippewas fall to 4-3.
"Minnesota really had a spurt of energy and delivered a knockout punch during that five-minute stretch," said CMU head coach Jay Smith. "After we made two big threes I thought Minnesota might be back on its heels. But, it bounced back and stalked us and played with emotion."
The Gophers went ahead, 65-53, before Tony Bowne ended the Chippewa freefall with a pair of free throws to make it 65-55 with 4:51 to play.
CMU held a 32-30 halftime lead. A three-pointer by Giordan Watson made it 50-45 with 11:04 to go and then Kevin Nelson drained a three to give the Chippewas the 53-47 edge.
During Minnesota's game-clinching run, CMU turned the ball over seven times and finished the game with 20. UM had 17.
"You have to play 40 minutes to beat a Big Ten team on the road," Smith said. "We played well for 35 minutes. The turnovers were a combination of youthfulness on our part and Minnesota's pressure and slapping the ball away."
CMU shot 23-of-54 from the field for 42.6 percent compared to Minnesota's 23-of-48 for 47.9 percent. The Chippewas were 9-of-22 from three-point land while the Gophers were 0-10.
However, Minnesota meshed 31-of-43 free throws to just 8-of-15 for CMU.
Nelson paced the CMU attack with 17 points, four baskets coming from behind the three-point arc, while Robert Sevalia added 14.
The Gophers were paced by 7-0 Jeff Hagen with 21 and Vincent Grier 19.
Next up for the Chippewas is a Dec. 20 battle at Vanderbilt. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. (EST).
