Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia pushes past Central Michigan

On By Littum

NCAA Basketball: Central Michigan at MinnesotaNovember 25, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Dawson Garcia (3) blocks a shot by Central Michigan Chippewas guard Cayden Vasko (2) during the second half at Williams Arena. Mandatory credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Dawson Garcia scored 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as Minnesota held on for a 68-65 victory over Central Michigan on Monday night in Minneapolis.

Lu’Cye Patterson finished with 19 points for the Golden Gophers (5-1), who won their third straight game. Frank Mitchell contributed eight points and six rebounds.

Ugnius Jarusevicius scored 17 points to lead Central Michigan (3-3). Jakobi Heady recorded 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Kyler VanderJagt chipped in nine points off the bench.

Jakobi Heady had a chance to force overtime, but he missed a 3-point attempt and Minnesota’s Brennan Rigsby grabbed the rebound at the buzzer.

Minnesota shot 44.4 percent (24 of 54) overall and 37 percent (10 of 27) from beyond the arc. Central Michigan shot 41.9 percent (26 of 62) from the field and 29.2 percent (7 of 24) from 3-point range.

Neither team pulled away in a hard-fought second half.

Central Michigan cut the deficit to 59-58 with 3:01 left on a 3-pointer by Jakobi Heady.

Patterson answered with a 3-pointer to make it 62-58 for Minnesota, but Jakobi Heady answered again with a layup to cut the Golden Gophers’ lead to 62-60 with 1:28 left.

Garcia scored the next four points on free throws to give Minnesota a 66-60 advantage with 34 seconds left.

A free throw by VanderJagt and a 3-pointer by Drew Barbee pulled Central Michigan within 66-64 with 18 seconds left.

The teams traded free throws in the final 17 seconds as Minnesota maintained its lead.

The score was 34-34 at the half.

Minnesota went on a 14-0 run to take a 14-4 lead in the first seven-plus minutes. Mitchell made back-to-back layups to start the run, which included a 3-pointer and a jump shot by Garcia, a 3-pointer by Patterson and a layup by Parker Fox.

Central Michigan responded with a 21-7 run to pull ahead 25-21 with 7:19 left in the first half. The Chippewas ended the run with nine straight points thanks to a 3-pointer by Damarion Bonds, a jump shot by Jakobi Heady, a layup by Bryan Ndjonga and a layup by Quentin Heady.

–Field-level media