In a slugfest with Omaha-Nebraska on Saturday afternoon, the Gophers needed something — anything — to turn the tide late. Their best player stepped into the breach.
Dawson Garcia scored on an offensive rebound, added a key free throw and forced a turnover in the final two minutes as Minnesota held off the Mavericks, 68-64, in a stop-and-start game at Williams Arena.
Garcia scored a game-high 24 points and team-high seven rebounds, and Lu’Cye Patterson made two free throws with 19 seconds left as the Gophers kept Omaha scoreless over the last 1 minute, 40 seconds. Trey Edmonds was the only other Gophers player to score in double figures with 12.
But Minnesota (2-0) also lost its starting point guard late when Mike Mitchell landed awkwardly after a layup attempt and limped off with an apparent ankle injury.
“Hopefully it’s just a sprain,” coach Ben Johnson said, adding that his status for Wednesday night’s game against North Texas will likely be a game-time decision.
Kamryn Thomas led the Mavericks (2-1) with 14 points, closely followed by Marquel Sutton’s 13, 11 from big man Isaac Odekane — who played a game-high 37 minutes — and 10 by JJ White.
Minnesota trailed 33-30 at halftime, and didn’t tie the game until Isaac Asuma’s 3-pointer with 5:51 left made it 57-57. That was the start of a 9-0 run that was capped by a Brennan Rigsby dunk off a fastbreak that started with a steal by Asuma to make it 61-57.
The Gophers never trailed again, although their lead was never bigger than four the rest of the way. The biggest lead in the entire game, in fact, was six points, when the Gophers took a 22-18 lead on Garcia’s three-point play with 8:28 left in the first half.
Omaha answered with an 11-1 run, holding the Gophers without a field goal for 5:11.
