Parker Fox scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting off the bench and Minnesota held on for a 58-47 win over Cleveland State on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Dawson Garcia and Brennan Rigsby each finished with 13 points for Minnesota (4-1), which won its second game in a row. Isaac Asuma scored 10 points.
Tevin Smith scored 10 points to lead Cleveland State (3-3). Cole Franklin contributed nine points, and Je’Shawn Stevenson scored eight off the bench.
The Golden Gophers never trailed in the second half.
KJ Debrick made a layup for Cleveland State to even the score at 39-all with 13:28 remaining in the game.
The Golden Gophers scored the next six points on three straight layups — two from Garcia and one from Asuma. They increased their lead to eight points several minutes later when Rigsby made 1 of 2 free throws to put Minnesota on top 50-42 with 4:54 to play.
Cleveland State pulled within 50-47 with 3:52 remaining, as Stevenson made a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to cut the Vikings’ deficit to three.
The Golden Gophers scored eight straight points to finish the game. Garcia provided a punctuation mark with a three-point play on a jump shot and a free throw with 50 seconds left.
Minnesota led 31-29 at the half.
Neither team led by more than five points before the break.
The Golden Gophers grabbed a 19-15 lead when Asuma made a jump shot with 7:29 remaining in the first half.
Cleveland State responded with an 8-0 run to grab a 23-19 advantage. Debrick made a 3-pointer to start the run, and Franklin finished it with a layup and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions.
Fox hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Minnesota the two-point halftime lead.