Iverson Leads Second-Half Surge in 70-61 Win over Wildcats
January 26, 2011

Colton Iverson scored all 15 of his points in the second half as the Minnesota Gophers upped their Big Ten record to 5-4 with a 71-60 win over Northwestern at Williams Arena.

The Wildcats had come back from a 13-point first-half deficit to take a 34-33 halftime lead on a three-pointer by Alex Marcotullio with 6.9 seconds left in the half. Marcotullio connected on another three-pointer to start the second half to give Northwestern its largest lead of the game at 37-33.

Then Iverson went to work. The Gophers had been shut down by Northwestern’s 1-3-1 zone defense, but Iverson scored two quick baskets to tie the game. He then coverted a 3-point play for a 40-37 lead, giving him 7 straight points and putting Minnesota back in front for good. The big junior completed a 15-2 Minnesota run with a pair of free throws and soon after connected on another field goal to give him 11 points in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

“He was dominating,” said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith of Iverson. “He’s starting to keep the ball up and grasp the concept that he’s 6-10, and saying I’d like to stay 6-10 and don’t bring the ball down to his waist. I was really impressed by Colton early. He started making his free throws. I thought Colton was very aggressive and very smooth tonight.”

With point-guard Al Nolen out indefinitely with a broken bone in his right foot, Smith started a larger lineup, moving Rodney Williams from small forward to the 2-guard position while having sharpshooter Blake Hoffarber play the point. That left Iverson, Ralph Sampson, and Trevor Mbawke in the front court. Smith stuck with his starters most of the game with Austin Hollins, who scored 10 points, being the only player off the bench to get much playing time.

Mbawke, who leads the Big Ten in rebounding, set the pace early with four quick rebounds to start the game along with a nice lead pass to Hoffarber for a layup and a 4-0 Gophers lead. “We got off to such a bad start and they got off to such a good start and we just weren’t able to stop them,” said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody.

Carmody called his second time out of the first half with 5:35 left after Minnesota had gone up 29-16. Drew Crawford started the comeback for Northwestern with back-to-back 3-pointers, and Marcotullio, with his 3-pointers to end and start the halves, culminated the rally, before Iverson led the charge back.

Northwestern took 39 of its 64 field-goal attempts from behind the arc, making 12 3-pointers. “We probably shoot 25 or 26 a game, and that’s against man-to-man,” said Carmody. “So you’re going to get some shots. You’ve got to make shots when it’s tough to go inside.”

The Gophers remained tough to beat at home, although their next game at Williams Arena, on February 6, will be against Ohio State, currently unbeaten and the top-ranked team in the country.