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Minnesota uses strong second half to beat Eastern Kentucky

Dec 11, 2010 - 9:22 PM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Ralph Sampson III scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help 22nd-ranked Minnesota beat Eastern Kentucky, 71-58, at Williams Arena.

Blake Hoffarber and Trevor Mbakwe both contributed 14 points for the Golden Gophers (9-1), who have won three straight since suffering their lone loss to Virginia on November 29th as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Justin Stommes had 19 points to pace the Colonels (5-5), who trailed by only three at halftime before a lengthy second-half scoring drought erased any chance of an upset.

"I thought we did a good job defensively in the first half, for us to hold them to 28 points here in their building," said Eastern Kentucky head coach Jeff Neubauer. "That is as well as we can do. I asked our team to be scrappy and we were very scrappy in the first half."

Minnesota scored 10 of the game's first 15 points, but trailed 22-13 after Stommes buried a shot from beyond the arc with just under seven minutes remaining.

Eastern Kentucky would register only another Stommes three-pointer over the next 17 minutes as the Golden Gophers pulled away.

Maverick Ahanmisi's bid from half court at the buzzer gave Minnesota a 28-25 halftime lead and the Golden Gophers built a 43-25 advantage before a Stommes dunk ended EKU's dry spell midway through the frame.

Minnesota led comfortably the rest of the way.

"The beginning of the second half was probably one of the best stretches of defensive play we've had," said Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith.

Game Notes

No other player scored more than nine points for the Colonels...Minnesota shot 52.0 percent from the field while limiting Eastern Kentucky to 35.8 percent...Saturday's game marked Eastern Kentucky's first against a nationally-ranked team since facing Duke on November 25, 2007.