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Coffey rallies Minnesota to OT win over Penn State

CHICAGO — Junior guard Amir Coffey scored 12 of his 22 points in overtime to help Minnesota post a 77-72 overtime victory over Penn State on Thursday night, March 14, in the second round of the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.

Senior guard Dupree McBrayer added 18 points and senior forward Jordan Murphy had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Golden Gophers (20-12). Freshman center Daniel Oturu added 10 points.

Junior forward Lamar Stevens scored 24 points for the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions (14-18). Junior forward Mike Watkins had 14 points and seven rebounds, sophomore guard Jamari Wheeler added 13 points and seven boards and senior guard Josh Reaves tallied 12 points.

Minnesota will take on second-seeded Purdue in Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Golden Gophers recovered from an eight-point deficit with under five minutes left in the second half and then controlled the overtime.

Coffey converted a three-point play to give the Golden Gophers a 69-66 lead with 53.9 seconds to play in the extra period. He added two free throws with 33.3 seconds left to push the lead to five and split a pair of three throws to make it 72-66 with 24.1 seconds left.

Coffey made two more free throws with 8.1 seconds remaining to again make it a six-point margin as Minnesota closed it out.

Stevens hit a short shot to give the Nittany Lions a 61-59 lead with 55.9 seconds left in regulation. McBrayer hit a 10-foot fallaway in the lane to knot the score at 61 with 37.2 seconds remaining. Both teams came up empty with shots in the final 10 seconds.

Minnesota connected on 43.9 percent of its shots and was 3 of 11 from behind the arc. The Golden Gophers were 24 of 31 from the free-throw line, making 9 of 11 in the overtime.

Penn State shot 42.3 percent from the field, including 4 of 15 from 3-point range. The Nittany Lions were 8 of 12 from the line.

Stevens drove through the lane for a layup as Penn State led 59-51 with 4:57 remaining.

Back-to-back baskets by Coffey pulled the Golden Gophers within two with 2:53 left and Murphy scored on an inside hoop with 1:17 left to tie it at 59.

Stevens scored 13 first-half points as Penn State held a 34-30 lead at the break. Murphy had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Golden Gophers.

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