University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Run Win Streak to Six
11/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota scored 14 of the first 15 points of the game and never looked back as the Golden Gophers cruised to a 90-76 victory over North Dakota State Saturday afternoon at Williams Arena.
Jamal Abu-Shamala scored nine points in the first three minutes and finished with 20 and Lawrence Westbrook added 17 for Minnesota (6-0), which is off to its best start since winning six straight to open the 1999-2000 campaign.
The Gophers, who shot a scalding 61.5 percent for the game, lead wire to wire and also got 12 points from Ralph Sampson III and 11 from Damian Johnson as they rolled to their highest point total of the season.
Mike Nelson led North Dakota State (2-2) with 22 points. Brett Winkelman and Ben Woodside each added 16 for the Bison, who lost for the 24th time in 25 meetings with Minnesota.
The Gophers’ fast start had them ahead by double figures for most of the contest. In fact, Minnesota’s lead slipped into single digits for just three minutes during the first half as the Gophers led by as many as 15 points before settling for a 38-28 halftime lead.
North Dakota State made an early run at Minnesota to open the second half and cut the Gophers’ lead to 45-38 with just under 16 minutes to play.
But that’s as close as the Bison would get as Minnesota scored 14 of the game’s next 18 points to take control.
Abu-Shamala connected on six free throws during the run, including four in a row after NDSU coach Saul Phillips was whistled for a technical foul with 13:02 remaining, to put the Gophers up 59-42.
A 3-point field goal by Westbrook with just over 10 minutes to go made it 69-51 and gave the Gophers their largest lead of the game at 18 points.
Minnesota’s lead hit 18 points on three other occasions as the Bison were never able to mount a serious threat down the stretch.
The Gophers will go for their seventh straight win to open the season on Tuesday, Dec. 2, when Minnesota hosts Virginia at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
