University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Handle Lions, Still Perfect
12/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Minnesota men's basketball team continued its best start in 32 years with an 80-71 win over Southeastern Louisiana Tuesday night at Williams Arena.
The 23rd-ranked Gophers (11-0) were paced by 15 points from guards Blake Hoffarber and Lawrence Westbrook, respectively. Forward Damian Johnson added 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks in 22 minutes of work. And point guard Al Nolen, fresh off a career game against Louisville on Saturday, added eight assists.
Kevyn Green scored a team-high 22 points for Southeastern Louisiana.
Minnesota entered the contest nationally ranked for the first time since 2002, but the Lions out of the Southern Conference weren’t about to let the Gophers cruise into their holiday break.
From the onset, the men from Hammond, Louisiana showed why they gave SEC foe Arkansas and Big 12 foe Texas Tech problems earlier in the season.
Led by 11 first-half points from Patrick Sullivan, the Lions (6-5) played neck-and-neck with the Gophers over the first 20 minutes of play. In total, there were 13 lead changes and 10 ties in the back-and-forth first stanza.
A basket by Green put Southeastern Louisiana up 33-31 with 2:12 remaining in the first half but that would be the Lions’ last lead of the game. Moments later, Westbrook hit two free throws to even the game and forward Travis Busch hit a three-pointer right before the first-half buzzer sounded to put Minnesota ahead 40-36 at the half.
Six-straight points out of the locker room from the Gophers capped by a pretty hook shot in the lane by freshman power forward Ralph Sampson III gave the Maroon and Gold their first double-digit lead of the game two minutes into the second half.
From there, the Lions would get no closer than five.
Freshman point guard Devoe Joseph hit a three-pointer with 12:36 to go to put Minnesota up 57-46 and Hoffarber who hit 3-of-4 from downtown - added another for good measure to put Minnesota ahead 65-53 with less than eight minutes left in regulation.
Down nine with three minutes to go, Southeastern Louisiana had a chance to remain in the game, but failed. Freshman center Colton Iverson blocked a Lions’ shot in the paint then added a layup on Minnesota’s ensuing offensive possession to push the Gophers’ lead back to double-digits and seal the games’ fate.
The Gophers made 29-of-56 (.518) field goals, including 8-of-18 (.444) from three-point range. Southeastern Louisiana made 27-of-56 (.482) attempts from the field, but the Lions were just 5-of-18 (.278) from three-point range.Minnesota returns to the hardwood on Sunday to challenge Tubby Smiths’ alma mater, High Point, at 6 p.m. at Williams Arena.
