University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Fall To Winona State In Exhibition Action
11/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota fell to Winona State 69-64 this evening in exhibition play at Williams Arena. Dan Coleman scored a game-high 20 points and Lawrence McKenzie added 13 points to lead the Gophers in their final exhibition game of the season. Minnesota opens the regular season on Monday night against North Dakota State at Williams Arena.
Trailing 59-54 with 2:13 left in the game, McKenzie hit a deep three-pointer to pull within two. Joe Ingvalson scored for Winona to push the lead back to four but McKenzie made two free throws and on the ensuing possession, dished to Brandon Smith for a fastbreak layup to knot the game at 61-61 with 1:15 to go. The Warriors didn't make another field goal in the final minute but relied on strong free throw shooting, making eight down the stretch to pull away for the victory.
Winona State led by as many as five in the early minutes of the second half before McKenzie and Limar Wilson made consecutive driving layups to give Minnesota a 39-38 lead with 14:36 on the clock. The Warriors we back up by four at 45-41 with 11:22 remaining but a 7-0 Gopher run put Minnesota ahead 48-45 with just over 10 minutes to go. A leaning jumper by Zach Malvik with 7:54 remaining gave Winona State a 50-48 lead and it never trailed the rest of the contest.
Minnesota opened the game with a 6-0 lead after consecutive three-pointers by McKenzie. The Gophers built a 25-21 lead later in the first half after a dunk by Coleman and a Smith free throw but Winona managed to score the final five points of the first half while holding the Gophers without a field goal for the final 6:41 of the opening stanza and led 30-27 at the break.
Minnesota shot 46 percent from the field for the game on 23-of-50 shooting while limiting the Warriors to 40 percent from the field (20-50) but was outrebounded 40-27. The Gophers nabbed 11 steals and forced 16 Warrior turnovers.
Spencer Tollackson added eight points and a team-high six rebounds while Wilson chipped in seven points. Kevin Payton had a game-high five steals.
Winona State was led by Jonte Flowers with 15 points while John Smith scored 14 and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Minnesota and North Dakota State open the 2006-07 regular season at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 13.
