{"id":426942,"date":"2024-12-02T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T15:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=426942"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Dawson-Garcia-gets-going-again-Minnesota-tops-Bethune-Cookman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Dawson-Garcia-gets-going-again-Minnesota-tops-Bethune-Cookman\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawson Garcia gets going again, Minnesota tops Bethune-Cookman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dawson Garcia emerged from a two-game slump with a game-high 23 points Sunday as Minnesota cruised to a 79-62 nonconference win over Bethune-Cookman in Minneapolis. After making only 4 of 19 shots in close losses to Wichita State and Wake Forest at the ESPN Events Invitational earlier this week, Garcia looked more like himself. He sank 8 of 15 shots while adding five rebounds and four assists for the Golden Gophers (6-3). Brennan Rigsby added 14 points for Minnesota, which hit 47.5 percent from the field and connected on 11 of 23 3-pointers. The Golden Gophers dominated the glass 39-24 and committed just 10 turnovers. Brayon Freeman tallied 21 points and Trey Thomas scored 18 for the Wildcats (2-6), but they didn&#8217;t get enough help. Just four other players scored as Bethune-Cookman struggled to make shots, needing a late surge to can 46.2 percent from the field. However, it trailed by just 38-34 with 17:40 left in the game after Thomas drained a long 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 run that started the second half. But Garcia answered with a 3-pointer and a layup that fueled a 10-0 Gophers run. The margin never dipped below 11 for the game&#8217;s remainder. Minnesota made a concerted effort to involve the 6-foot-11 Garcia, who averages 18.6 ppg and 7.3 rebounds, right away against an opponent with no one taller than 6-foot-9. Garcia responded with eight points in the first 7:15 as the Gophers established a 14-9 advantage. The margin reached 17 with 5:07 left in the half as Femi Odukale drilled a corner 3-pointer. At that point, Bethune-Cookman found some traction offensively behind Freeman, who scored eight straight Wildcats points and then fed Daniel Rouzan for a layup. Thomas added a short jumper and a free throw in the final minute, helping the Wildcats close within 38-26 at halftime. Minnesota enjoyed a 12-0 advantage in bench scoring at the break and ended the game with a 26-6 cushion. &#8211;Field Level Media<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/8f869ae0785ba2ced553670c1b02edb2.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>Dec 1, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Dawson Garcia (3) shoots as Bethune-Cookman Wildcats forward Jesus Carralero Martin (12) defends during the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>-Matt Krohn-Imagn Images<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dawson Garcia emerged from a two-game slump with a game-high 23 points Sunday as Minnesota&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}