Sampson Returns, Gophers Beat Peacocks
December 10, 2011
With an ankle he described as “97 percent” healed, center Ralph Sampson returned to the starting lineup and led Minnesota to a 69-47 win over St. Peter’s. After missing two full games and coming off the bench in last Tuesday’s win over Appalachian State, Sampson made his first start since November 27.
He took a few minutes to get going. After missing a shot and then getting stripped by Karee Ferguson when he held the ball too long near his basket, Sampson, on the next possession in the low post, made a nifty pass to a breaking Julian Welch, who made a reverse lay up for an 8-4 lead (Welch had already given the Gophers their first 6 points on a pair of three-pointers). “It was a real good day for him,” Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said. “It is good to have him back.”
In 24 minutes on the floor, Sampson scored 15 points on 6 for 9 shooting from the field and 3 for 3 at the line, had 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks, including back-to-back rejections on Peacocks big man Darius Conley.
Shooting from the outside and using his strength in the paint, Conley scored 20 points and had 7 rebounds. “They’re pretty big,” said Conley. “They’re pretty talented. It’s always good to get to play against that kind of talent.”
“It was pretty much exactly what I anticipated,” said St. Peter’s coach John Dunne. “They’re a very solid team, very well-coached team. They play to their strengths.
“If we had made a few more disciplined plays on offense and on defense maybe we could have made it more interesting. But they’re a well-coached team, and an unselfish team, and they do a good job.”
Gopher Holes: Welch, starting at point guard because of an ankle injury to Andre Hollins, scored 11 and extended his free-throw streak, although he was helped by a lane violation on St. Peter’s late in the first half after he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Given another opportunity, Welch made both to up his streak to 25. That’s as far as he got as he missed his first free throw in the second half and was only 1 for 4 at the free-throw line, including a couple misses on the front end of one-and-ones.