BIG FOUR HOOPS: Gophers hold off Hawkeye comeback
IOWA CITY — Dawson Garcia scored 20 points, Femi Odukale added 18 and Minnesota held off Iowa for a 72-67 victory on Tuesday night.
Minnesota led by double digits for most of the second half until Owen Freeman scored six points during Iowa’s 13-3 run to cut the deficit to 70-67 with 30 seconds left. Garcia missed two free throws on the next possession, but Seydou Traore then missed at the line for Iowa. Frank Mitchell made a pair of free throws to seal it for Minnesota.
Minnesota (10-9, 2-6 Big Ten), which beat then-No. 20 Michigan 84-81 in overtime on Thursday, has won consecutive games since snapping a four-game losing streak.
Payton Sandfort scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Iowa (12-7, 3-5), which has lost three straight. Freeman also had 21 points to go with eight rebounds. Traore finished with 11 points.
Iowa hosts Penn State on Friday, while Minnesota is at home against No. 15 Oregon on Saturday.
UNI 79, Missouri St. 68
CEDAR FALLS — Tytan Anderson’s 21 points and 10 rebounds helped Northern Iowa defeat Missouri State 79-68 on Tuesday night.
Jacob Hutson scored 16 points and three blocks for the Panthers (12-8, 6-3 Missouri Valley Conference).. Will Hornseth had 12 points.
Zaxton King led the Bears (7-13, 0-9) in scoring, finishing with 17 points and three steals. Michael Osei-Bonsu added 11 points and eight rebounds for Missouri State. Dez White had 10 points. The loss was the Bears’ eighth in a row.
Northern Iowa took the lead with 12:10 to go in the first half and never looked back. The score was 37-31 at halftime, with Hornseth racking up nine points. Anderson scored 19 points in the second half.