GEORGIA TECH 68, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 50
MINNESOTA 68, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 60
OXFORD, OH -- Three days after hanging tough at Georgia, the Miami RedHawks (1-3) were overwhelmed Thursday as visiting Marshall (2-1) cruised to a 95-69 victory at Millett Hall.
Redshirt senior Anthony Taylor led the way for Marshall, sinking 12-of-20 shots from the field on the way to 26 points. However, he was . . . CONTINUE
GEORGIA TECH 68, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 50
ATLANTA, Ga. – Zarique Nutter posted his first career double-double with a game-high 18 points and a game-best 15 rebounds, but Northern Illinois fell to Georgia Tech, 68-50, on Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion. The Huskies rallied from a 23-point halftime deficit to within seven early in the second half, but a spurt by the Yellow Jackets helped hold off the Huskie rally.
Georgia Tech (3-0) took a 43-20 lead into halftime, but the Huskies opened the second half on an 11-1 run as Nutter scored seven while Oluwasegun Durosinmi and Keshawn Williams each added a basket to pull the Huskies back to within 13, 44-31. The run ballooned to 17-1 as Nutter made a free throw and David Coit scored five-straight, trimming the Georgia Tech lead to 44-37 with 14:30 left to play.Coit finished with 10 points while Williams added nine.
Georgia Tech responded with nine-straight as the lead grew back to 53-37 with just over eight minutes remaining.
NIU (1-3) cut the deficit back to a dozen on a free throw from Durosinmi with a little over five minutes to play, but that was as close as the Huskies would get despite holding Georgia Tech to just 28.6 percent (8-of-28) shooting in the second half, including 1-of-6 (16.7 percent) from three.
Four players scored in double figures for the Yellow Jackets, led by 14 points, and 11 rebounds, from Ja’von Franklin. Miles Kelly added 13 points, Dallan Coleman chipped in 12 and Deivon Smith added 11 points and a game-high six assists.
The Yellow Jackets outscored NIU, 42-24, in the paint in the contest and 17-6 in second chance points.
MINNESOTA 68, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 60
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.— After a solid first half that saw Central Michigan trail by just five points at the half, Minnesota took advantage of 28.2 percent second half shooting by the Chippewas to claim a 68-60 victory Thursday evening at Williams Arena. The loss drops Central Michigan to 1-2 on the young season, while Minnesota improves to 3-1.
For the game, Central Michigan shot 30.6 percent (22-72) and hit only 6-25 of its 3-point field goal attempts. Sophomore point guard Kevin Miller led the Chippewas with a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds as he finished with 15 points in the first half. Junior guard Jesse Zarzuela finished with 15 points and hit three 3-pointers, freshman guard Reggie Bass scored a career-high 10 points, and senior forward Miroslav Stafl scored eight points with five rebounds before fouling out.
The Chippewas outrebounded Minnesota 43-38, grabbed 22 offensive rebounds, and only turned the ball over 11 times, but couldn't overcome its shooting performance.
Minnesota, which led the entire game, was led by Dawson Garcia's 17 points and seven rebounds, Ta'lon Cooper scored 12 points with eight assists, and Braeden Carrington finished with 11 points.
Leading by five points at halftime, Minnesota scored 10 of the second half's first 12 points to extend its lead to 13 points (41-28) in the opening minutes. Treyton Thompson started the rally when he threw down a dunk off a missed shot and Jaden Henley followed with a 3-pointer. After CMU's Miroslav Stafl scored on a layup, Garcia answered on a layup, then hit a 3-pointer.
Central Michigan started the second half by converting just one of its first 15 shots in the second half. During a stretch combining the first and second halves, CMU converted just four of 28 shots.
Later, Minnesota pushed the lead 18 points (52-34) on back-to-back dunks by Pharrel Payne and Joshua Ola-Joseph, A Cooper free throw and a driving layup by Cooper. Two Bass 3-pointers trimmed the lead down to nine points late in the game, but the Golden Gophers continued to score to keep the Chippewas at bay.