Parker Fox scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting off the bench and Minnesota held on for a 58-47 win over Cleveland State on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Dawson Garcia and Brennan Rigsby each finished with 13 points for Minnesota (4-1), which won its second game in a row. Isaac Asuma scored 10 points.
Tevin Smith scored 10 points to lead Cleveland State (3-3). Cole Franklin contributed nine points, and Je’Shawn Stevenson scored eight off the bench.
Minnesota shot 38.5 percent (20 of 52) from the field and 20 percent (3 of 15) from beyond the arc. Cleveland State shot 35.2 percent (19 of 54) overall and 25 percent (5 of 20) from 3-point range.
The Golden Gophers never trailed in the second half.
KJ Debrick made a layup for Cleveland State to even the score at 39-all with 13:28 remaining in the game.
The Golden Gophers scored the next six points on three straight layups — two from Garcia and one from Asuma. They increased their lead to eight points several minutes later when Rigsby made 1 of 2 free throws to put Minnesota on top 50-42 with 4:54 to play.
Cleveland State pulled within 50-47 with 3:52 remaining, as Stevenson made a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to cut the Vikings’ deficit to three.
The Golden Gophers scored eight straight points to finish the game. Garcia provided a punctuation mark with a three-point play on a jump shot and a free throw with 50 seconds left.
Minnesota led 31-29 at the half.
Neither team led by more than five points before the break.
The Golden Gophers grabbed a 19-15 lead when Asuma made a jump shot with 7:29 remaining in the first half.
Cleveland State responded with an 8-0 run to grab a 23-19 advantage. Debrick made a 3-pointer to start the run, and Franklin finished it with a layup and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions.
Fox hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Minnesota the two-point halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
