Gophers lose overtime heartbreaker to Wichita State in Orlando tournament

ORLANDO – Gophers coach Ben Johnson scheduled a Florida trip over Thanksgiving to showcase his basketball team on a bigger stage at the ESPN Events Invitational, but they had to battle in crunch time with their best player on the bench.

Dawson Garcia, the fourth-leading scorer in the Big Ten, fouled out in overtime with just four points.

Still, the Gophers saw a potential winning three-pointer from Brennan Rigsby just miss as time expired in a gut-wrenching 68-66 loss to Wichita State on Thursday at the Wide World of Sports complex.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win it,” Johnson said. “We got a relatively decent look. Obviously, it’s a game of inches a little bit and didn’t quite get the bounce. I thought for the most part our guys battled.”

Justin Hill’s free throws for Wichita State with four seconds left were the deciding points in a back-and-forth affair. The Shockers (6-0) escaped a loss in regulation with Harlond Beverly’s three with 1.2 seconds left that tied the score 57-57.

Isaac Asuma, a freshman from Cherry, Minn., sank clutch free throws with 10 seconds to play. But the Gophers (5-2) failed to get the stop to seal what would’ve been their best victory this season.

Johnson said he decided not to foul up three with seconds winding down in regulation because he didn’t have faith his team could come back and seal it at the line.

“We’re not shooting free throws great,” Johnson said. “So, then you’re worried about it becomes a free-throw game and you foul too early. Well, now you’re putting more pressure on the team.”

With just under four minutes left in the extra period, Garcia appeared to tie the ball up, but he was whistled for his fifth foul. The Gophers gave up six consecutive points in overtime. But Rigsby’s layup and dunk after a critical steal tied the score at 66-66 with 15 seconds to play.

Then, when the Gophers didn’t want to foul, Frank Mitchell was caught reaching after switching to defend Hill on a pick-and-roll. Even after Wichita State went ahead at the foul line, Gophers players leaped off the bench when Rigsby’s corner three attempt bounced four times around the rim before it missed.

“I felt like Brennan was going to make that shot,” senior guard Femi Odukale said. “I’ve seen him take tough shots like that, but we can’t hold our heads low for that.”

Lu’Cye Patterson finished with a team-high 14 points and six assists. Odukale had 13 points and eight assists. Parker Fox also added 12 points, six rebounds and four blocks for the Gophers, who finish out Thanksgiving week at noon Friday against 6-2 Wake Forest, which lost to 18th-ranked and undefeated Florida 75-58 in the other semifinal.

The Gophers were 3-for-23 from three-point range and shot just 9-for-17 on free throws, but they scored 18 points off turnovers.

“We also outrebounded them [38-34] and got into transition [16-2 in fast-break points], which is what we wanted to do,” Johnson said. “Now we’ve got to go back and look how do we better close the deal.”

The next game could be even tougher to win if Garcia can’t get going after shooting 1-for-7 from the field in 38 minutes. He also had six rebounds and two blocks.

But the 6-11 senior was averaging 22.8 points through six games, which included five games with 20-plus points. Figuring out how to free him up Friday will be huge for the Gophers still looking for their first signature win of the season.

“Teams are really going to load up against him,” Johnson said. “Credit them they did a good job of making all of his catches tough. Double teaming. He’s a big focal point of what they were trying to do defensively, but I thought our guys battled.”