University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Cruise Past Santa Clara, 68-50
12/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dan Coleman poured in 20 points and Minnesota forced 26 Santa Clara turnovers as the Gophers closed out the home portion of their non-conference schedule with a 68-50 victory in front of 12,548 at Williams Arena Saturday night.
Lawrence McKenzie added 11 points and Spencer Tollackson and Lawrence Westbrook each chipped in with eight points for Minnesota (8-1), which won its fifth in a row and is now just one victory shy of its win total for the entire 2006-07 campaign.
In addition to coughing up a season-high in turnovers, Santa Clara (7-5) was held to its second-lowest point total of the year.
Three Broncos finished with double-figure points, including Brody Angley, who scored 13 of his 15 points during the second half to help keep the game from being a complete run-away by the Gophers.
Minnesota didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and the Gophers were actually outrebounded by seven on the night. But the Gophers’ stifling half-court man-to-man defense proved to be too much to overcome for the Broncos.
The Gophers held Santa Clara to a number of long droughts on the offensive end of the floor, including a 7 and minute stint early in the first half during which Minnesota turned a 5-3 deficit into an 18-5 lead and took total control of the game.
Coleman, who also snagged a career-high six steals for the game, opened the run with six straight points. A McKenzie 3-pointer and buckets by Jonathan Williams, Damian Johnson and Kevin Payton finished the run as the Gophers reeled off 15 straight points.
Two field goals by Santa Clara center John Bryan briefly stopped the bleeding before Minnesota stepped on the gas again with an 8-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the half at 26-9 with just under six minutes to go before intermission.
The Broncos were able to slice Minnesota’s lead to single digits just before the break, but Coleman hit a jumper with 45 seconds to go to give the Gophers a 32-21 lead heading into halftime.
Minnesota kept the pressure on in the second half, scoring six of the first eight points of the period, including four by Coleman, to forge a 15-point led.
The Gophers advantage would grow to as many as 20 on a pair of Tollackson free throws with just under 14 minutes to go that made it 50-30.
Santa Clara used a 9-2 run to slice the Gophers’ lead to 52-39 midway through the second half, but went scoreless over the next three minutes and never got closer that 15 points the rest of the way.
Minnesota returns to action on Dec. 28, when the Gophers battle Nicholls State at 7 p.m. in Las Vegas, Nev., in the opening round of the Duel in the Desert. The Gophers will face Kennesaw State on Dec. 29, before concluding the three-day tournament against UNLV on Dec. 29.
