Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Minnesota
Northwestern Falls To Minnesota, 82-63
1/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2008
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Coble posted season highs of 17 points and seven rebounds, but the Northwestern men's basketball team was unable to overcome a big first-half run by Minnesota in falling 82-63 at Williams Arena Wednesday evening.
Dan Coleman had 19 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota to help it end a three-game home losing streak to the Wildcats.
Blake Hoffarber scored 15 points, thanks to a perfect first half from 3-point range, and Spencer Tollackson added 12 points for the Gophers (11-3, 1-1), who improved to 8-0 at Williams Arena and bounced back from consecutive defeats by UNLV and Michigan State.
Coleman, a senior, became the 17th player in the program's history to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career.
Northwestern (5-7, 0-3) stormed out of the gates to a 20-14 lead eight minutes into the contest. However, the Wildcats suddenly hit a dry spell as the Golden Gophers used a 22-2 run to build 36-22 advantage on Hoffarber's fourth 3-pointer of the half. The freshman would go on to make his fifth shot from behind the arc in as many attempts later in the half as Minnesota eventually took a 42-29 in the break.
Much like it did in the opening half, NU came out on fire to start the second half. The Wildcats used a quick 9-2 spurt to get back to within six at 44-38 just under three minutes into the half.
Nortwestern was within eight when Minnesota used a 9-0 run to increase its lead to 58-41 at the 12:41 mark. The Wildcats fought back to within striking distance and were down by just nine with 3:28 to go before the hosts finished the game on a 12-2 run to pull away.
Freshman Mike Capocci had a solid game for NU off the bench, posting 8 points and 8 rebounds in only 12 minutes of play. Craig Moore scored all 11 of his points in the first half for the Wildcats who shot 40.4 percent (23-57) compared to 50.9 percent (28-55) for Minnesota.
Northwestern returns home Saturday when it face Michigan with tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
