Dawson Garcia, Minnesota squeeze past Central Michigan

Dawson Garcia scored 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as Minnesota held on for a 68-65 win 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 game in a row. Frank Mitchell contributed eight points and six rebounds.

Ugnius Jarusevicius scored 17 points to lead Central Michigan (3-3). Jakobi Heady registered 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 as the buzzer sounded.

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

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

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

Patterson answered with a 3-pointer to make it 62-58 for Minnesota, but Jakobi Heady responded 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 remaining.

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

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

The score was tied 34-34 at the half.

Minnesota went on a 14-0 run to seize 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 remaining in the first half. The Chippewas finished 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