Gophers boost resume with 59-56 win over Michigan State
A 10-0 run in the second half helped spark a second half comeback on Tuesday night at Williams Arena as the Minnesota Golden Gophers picked up a huge resume boosting win with a 59-56 win over the Michigan State Spartans.
Cam Christie led the Gophers with 19 points and six rebounds while Dawson Garcia contributed 10 points and two rebounds of his own in the win for Ben Johnson's program.
The win improves the Gophers to 15-7 on the season including 6-5 in Big Ten play this season. It's the program's third straight win after snapping a four-game losing streak against Penn State on January 27.
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In Tuesday night's game, the Gophers and Spartans would go blow-for-blow following Michigan State jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Gophers would miss their first three attempts of the evening but would rattle off five of their next six in order to stay in the game while Michigan State started off the evening hot from the field themselves, hitting six of their first 10 attempts.
Prior to halftime, the Gophers shooting would cool off, missing nine of their final 10 shots over the final 10 minutes. Michigan State would take advantage to slightly strengthen their lead to five heading into halftime at 32-27.
Coming out of halftime, the Gophers would play some poor basketball despite hitting four of their first six shots of the second half, allowing Michigan State to grow their lead to 45-36 with 13:16 left to go.
The Gophers would begin clawing their way back into the game just a minute later with a Parker Fox free throw which was the start of a 10-0 run that flipped Michigan State's 45-36 lead into a 46-45 lead for the Gophers with 7:56 to go.
Over the remaining eight minutes of the game, the two sides would trade leads but a a Dawson Gracia three-pointer with 1:27 remaining in the game would ultimately be the dagger for the Spartans. The three-pointer gave the Gophers a 55-52 lead and while Michigan State would cut that to 55-54 with 20 seconds remaining, four free throws in the closing seconds allowed Minnesota to pick up their 15th win of the season with a 59-56 win.
The win is the Golden Gophers' first Quad 1 win of the season after being 0-3 entering Tuesday night's contest.
UP NEXT
The Golden Gophers will be back on the court on Sunday against the Iowa Hawkeyes who are 13-9 on the season. They'll take on Penn State in Happy Valley on Thursday before returning back to Iowa City to host the Gophers.
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