SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. – About a hundred Gophers fans roared behind the team's bench as the buzzer sounded after Dawson Garcia's game-winning shot in the waning seconds of Monday night's thrilling 62-61 overtime win against California Baptist to open the SoCal Challenge.
The early momentum was one-sided in favor of a Big Ten team making its first road trip after Ben Johnson's team jumped out to a 15-0 lead, but it was how the Gophers responded after falling behind that made the difference in the end.
"We did an unbelievable job for about 95% of that game with being competitors," Johnson said. "Sometimes you got to win ugly and be OK with that. I thought we won with our defense. I thought we played through adversity multiple times. For a new crew they showed a ton of heart and a ton of fight."
Pharrel Payne had a career-high 15 points and 13 rebounds in 40 minutes. Jamison Battle scored 11 points making his season debut coming off foot surgery. But Garcia's late basket kept the Gophers (4-1) from being the latest Power Five school to lose to the Lancers (3-2).
The Gophers, who saw a 13-point lead in the second half evaporate, trailed 61-58 with under two minutes left in overtime, but Payne slammed the ball to pull his team within a point.
After a key defensive stop on Cal Baptist's leading scorer Taran Armstrong, the Gophers let Garcia go to work in the post. He dribbled hard into the lane and powered up a jump hook for his 10th point with five seconds left for the game-deciding basket.
"A lot of adversity came our way this game, but we stuck with it and kept coming," Garcia said. "The results are a win and now we get to play for a championship. My team trusted in me."
At 9:30 p.m. Wednesday the Gophers play UNLV, which defeated Southern Illinois 56-49 in the late game.