University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Defeat Michigan 59-55 To Reach Big Ten Quarterfinals
3/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Trailing 31-27 early in the second half, the Gophers went on a 8-0 run. Spencer Tollackson started the run with a dunk off a feed from Hargrow. After being held scoreless in the first half, Vincent Grier made a slicing layup for his first basket and Hargrow made two free throws to give Minnesota its first lead at 33-31 with 14:45 remaining. Dan Coleman added a leaning jumper to give Minnesota a four-point edge, a lead the Gophers would not relinquish the rest of the game. Leading 43-38, the Gophers grasped more momentum after a Grier basket and Coleman picked off a Wolverine pass and took it for a dunk on the other end and Minnesota had a nine-point lead at 47-38 with 8:37 left.
Michigan rallied with a Dion Harris three-pointer to pull within four but Boone picked off another errant Michigan pass and scored a layup to lead by six. Grier and Hargrow added jumpers to push the Gopher lead to a game-high 10 at 53-43 with 4:07 to go. However, the Wolverines still had some fight left. Harris made a trey and Daniel Horton added two free throws to trim the Gopher lead to five with 2:08 remaining. Minnesota had countless chances to ice the game but it made just 5-of-12 free throw attempts in the final two minutes.
Grier made two free throws to lead 58-52 with 16 seconds but Harris made a driving layup and Sherrod Harrell stole the inbounds pass and was fouled by Grier with five seconds left. Harrell made 1-of-2 free throws and Grier was fouled again on the ensuing inbounds. He made 1-of-2 from the line to put the game away 59-55.
Michigan built an early lead in the first half. It took a 7-0 lead from the outset before Dan Coleman got Minnesota on the board almost four minutes into the game. Michigan extended its lead to 22-14 on a Graham Brown basket with 8:12 left in the half. A Hargrow three-pointer with 5:07 on the clock trimmed the Wolverine lead to 25-21. Brent Petway added a short jumper with 2:18 left and Hargrow hit two free throws with 1:30 on the clock to cap the first half scoring at 27-23.
Minnesota harassed the Wolverines into 21 turnovers and limited them to just 37 percent shooting from the field. The Gophers shot 46 percent from the floor in the second half, a much improved effort from a 8-of-23 performance in the first half. Minnesota were 15- of-28 from the free throw line while Michigan was just 9-of-13.
Puchtel's 15 rebounds are a career-high and the most by a Gopher since Kris Humphries granned 15 against Purdue in the 2004 Big Ten Tournament first round. Hargrow had 15 points and four assists while Grier added 11 points. Coleman added 10 points and seven rebounds. Adam Boone had nine points and six assists. Spencer Tollackson had nine points and three blocks in just 18 minutes.
Harris led Michigan with 16 points while Horton added 14.
