Dawson Garcia scored 28 points and the Minnesota Golden Gophers held on to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes 70-67 in Big Ten men’s basketball Thursday night.
The win is Minnesota’s (7-8, 1-4) first in the Big Ten this season and the loss drops the Buckeyes (10-6, 2-3) one game under .500 in conference play. Minnesota failed to make a shot for the final 5 minutes, 15 seconds of the game but they got just enough at the free-throw line to earn the victory.
Minnesota had 8.6 seconds left on the clock after the Buckeyes tied the game at 67-67 on a pair of free throws, and after a timeout Jamison Battle inbounded the ball to Ta’lon Cooper who crossed over a defender and was fouled at the rim with 1.7 seconds to play.
The foul was questionable because the replay appeared to show a clean block on Cooper, who went to the line for two free throws and a chance to win the game. He missed the first and head coach Ben Johnson called timeout.
“You’re making this. You’re making this,” Johnson told to Cooper, with the FS1 cameras and microphones providing all access coverage that allowed fans to hear the coaches on the sidelines the entire game.
After a deep breath, Cooper buried the second free throw and Ohio State threw a full-court pass out of bounds. A foul and two Garcia free throws later and the Gophers left Columbus with the three-point win.
Garcia had 28 points and nine rebounds. Cooper finished the night with 13 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Battle had 11 points for Minnesota.
