The Golden Gophers’ surprise season continued Friday with a Big Ten Tournament win over Michigan State, 63-58.
Minnesota, already a lock to reach the NCAA Tournament, improved its chances of receiving a five- or- six-seed when the brackets are released Sunday. But there’s still room to go higher. The Gophers play Michigan at 12 p.m. in Saturday’s conference tournament semifinals.
Michigan beat top seed Purdue in overtime, 74-70, in the first game of the day at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Dupree McBrayer’s back-to-back 3-pointers just before the midway point of the second half gave the Gophers a 41-33 lead. Michigan State didn’t reclaim the lead until there was 5:37 to play, but the lead lasted only 20 seconds when Minnesota tied the game 52-52 on a basket by Jordan Murphy.
A dunk by Reggie Lynch the next time down the court gave the Gophers the lead for good.
Lynch led the Gophers with 16 points and 5 blocks. Jordan Murphy had 10 points and 13 rebounds and Amir Coffey scored 13 points.
Note: Akeem Springs left the game late with an injury and returned to the court on crutches.
