The Gophers are headed to the NIT Championship on Thursday night. Minnesota survived Florida State 67-64 on Tuesday night.
Ian Miller’s three at the end of overtime missed and the Gophers held on to the win. It is the second time in the last three seasons the Gophers have reached the NIT Championship.
Maurice Walker made three of four free-throws in the final :16 of overtime to put the Gophers up four, which was just too much for Florida State to overcome.
.@GopherBBall makes ZERO field goals in overtime…and still wins!#Gophers beat FSU 67-64 and will play SMU for the NIT championship.
— Keith Leventhal (@KeithLeventhal) April 2, 2014
The Gophers scored all of their points in overtime from the free-throw line.
Austin Hollins and Deandre Mathieu scored 17 to lead the way for the Gophers. Andre Hollins added 13.
Okardo White and Miller scored 16 points to lead Florida State.
Minnesota got out to a quick start in the first half building an early lead 15-4. The Gophers kept the lead throughout the first half extending the lead to 30-20 at the end of the half.
But the Gophers cooled in the second and allowed the Seminoles to get back into the contest. Florida State took their first lead of the game with 4:10 to play when White made a pair of free-throws to put FSU up 51-50.
Florida State's 15 points deficit is gone. They lead #Gophers 51-50 – 3:55 to go.
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) April 2, 2014
The Gophers reclaimed the lead, but weren’t able to put the game away at the end of regulation. Malik Smith missed a pair of free-throws giving Devon Bookert a chance to make the three to tie the game with three-tenths of a second remaining.
In overtime the Gophers made enough free throws to hold on for the victory.
They will meet up with SMU on Thursday night in the NIT Championship game.
