Gophers upset North Carolina in Puerto Rico tourney
Minnesota Sports-- Blake Hoffarber scored 20 pints and Ralph Sampson III added 12 points and six rebounds to lead Minnesota past eight- ranked North Carolina, 72-67, at the 2010 Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
San Juan, PR (Sports Network) - Blake Hoffarber scored 20 pints and Ralph Sampson III added 12 points and six rebounds to lead Minnesota past eight- ranked North Carolina, 72-67, at the 2010 Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Trevor Mbakwe chipped in with 12 points and nine boards while Colton Iverson supplied seven points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Gophers (3-0), who will meet West Virginia in Sunday's championship game.
Tyler Zeller scored 16 points and John Henson collected nine points and 12 rebounds for the Tar Heels (2-1), who were denied a fourth straight trip to the finals of an in-season tournament.
Highly-touted freshman Harrison Barnes scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds, but missed all 12 of his shots from the floor in the defeat.
Sampson III and Hoffarber each hit three-pointers in an 8-0 burst that gave Minnesota a 35-27 edge three minutes into the second half.
Carolina evened the game at 41 before a Hoffarber trifecta ignited an 11-2 run that Rodney Williams finished with a layup with just over eight minutes to go.
Zeller's layup pulled the 'Heels within 62-59 with 2:53 to play before seven consecutive foul shots extended the Gophers lead to ten and sewed up the win.
Carolina grabbed a 21-16 lead, the biggest for either side in the first half, on a Dexter Strickland dunk with six minutes to go before the Gophers ended with an 11-3 run to take a 27-24 lead at the intermission.
North Carolina made only 9-of-31 shots (29 percent) in the first half.
Tags: minnesota sports, proam, basketball, gophers
More from around the web
RSS Feeds