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Minnesota rallies in defensive battle at Iowa

Fri 9th, January 2009

Iowa City, IA (Sports Network) - Lawrence Westbrook and Travis Busch each scored 10 points and helped trigger a second-half rally, as No. 22 Minnesota slipped past Iowa, 52-49, in a conference clash at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Golden Gophers (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten), shot just 33.9 percent from the floor and made only 5-of-22 three-pointers.

The game of futility was a race to 50, won by Minnesota, which held the Hawkeyes to 38.1 percent shooting and grabbed 18 of its own misses to help offset the poor shooting night.

Jeff Peterson led all scorers with 16 points and Matt Gatens added 11 for the Hawkeyes (11-5, 1-2), who lost for the first time at home this season in 10 games.

Trailing 31-24, Minnesota reeled off nine consecutive points to take the lead as Iowa went over 12 minutes between field goals -- bookended threes by Jermain Davis at 17:01 of the second half and Gatens with 4:56 remaining to cut Iowa's deficit to 41-36.

The overall 17-2 spurt that handed the Golden Gophers a 41-33 edge was capped by Damian Johnson's jumper.

Anthony Tucker's two free throws trimmed Minnesota's edge to 46-44 with 1:17 to play, but Busch scored from in close on the other end. Westbrook added two free throws for a six-point edge, but Iowa fought back with Jake Kelly's bucket and Peterson's triple.

Westbrook calmly sank two free throws with 4.7 ticks to go, and Kelly's mid-court heave as time ticked to zero missed off the rim.

Minnesota had its worst scoring first half of the season, making just 8-of-25 shots from the floor and putting just 20 points on the scoreboard. The Hawkeyes used a 9-0 sprint past the midway point of the second half to seize a 23-10 edge. Jarryd Cole's three-point play capped the stretch with 4:57 to play.

The Golden Gophers then went into a zone and put the clamps on the Hawkeyes' offensive efficiency for the remainder of the half. Devron Bostick's bucket capped a 7-0 run to pull the visitors within six points, and that was the margin at the half, 26-20.

Game Notes

Minnesota scored 16 second-chance points to just two for Iowa...The Golden Gophers also got 24 points for their bench compared to just eight for the Iowa reserves...Minnesota leads the all-time series, 96-88.