University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota runs past Central Michigan, 77-59
11/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Spencer Tollackson led a balanced Minnesota score sheet with 14 points as the Golden Gophers defeated Central Michigan 77-59 before 12,194 at Williams Arena Saturday night.
Lawrence Westbrook added 11 points and Lawrence McKenzie chipped in with 10 for the Golden Gophers, who had all 10 players score in the game while moving to 3-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
Giordan Watson scored 22 points to lead Central Michigan, which dropped its fourth in a row to open the year.
Minnesota led just 35-29 at the break and by just four after Watson drilled a jumper on the Chippewas’ opening possession of the second half.
But that’s as closes as CMU would get as Minnesota used a 15-3 run to take a commanding 55-38 lead with 11:25 to play. Tollackson keyed the spurt with six points as five different Gophers scored during the run.
The Gophers’ advantage would grow to as many as 24 when Coleman, who finished with nine points and eight rebounds, increased Minnesota’s lead to 68-44 on an old fashioned 3-point play with just under seven minutes remaining in the game.
Central Michigan pulled within 16 twice in the last three minutes of the game, the final time on a 3-pointer by Robbie Harman with 1:10 that cut Minnesota’s lead to 75-59 before the Gophers’ Jamal Abu-Shamala scored the final points of the contest from the free throw line.
Minnesota finished with a 35-21 advantage on the glass and shot 51 percent from the floor for the game, but it would have been difficult to predict that performance during the initial moments of the game.
The two teams each suffered through plenty early-game jitters as the Gophers and Chippewas combined for 18 turnovers and just 22 points in the game’s first 10 minutes.
Minnesota, which spent all but 2:48 of the half in the lead, settled down with just under five minutes to play and built a six point lead thanks to a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer by Westbrook.
Central Michigan wasn’t about to go away easily though. The Chippewas scored 10 of the game’s next 12 points, including five by Watson, to forge a 29-27 lead with 2:04 to go in the period.
Minnesota responded by scoring the final eight points of the half, however, to lead 35-29 at intermission. Tollackson started the run with a jumper then finished things off by drilling a 3-pointer from just inside of midcourt at the buzzer for the final points of the half.
Minnesota returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 27, when the Gophers travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to take on Florida State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tip off is slated for 6:30 p.m. (CST) and the game will air nationally on ESPN2.
