LAHAINA, Hawaii – DeAndre Mathieu scored 17 points and Minnesota came back in the second half to beat Chaminade 83-68 at the Maui Invitational on Wednesday.
The Golden Gophers turned around a 9-point deficit in the second half by forcing the Division II school into bad shots and five turnovers over the final 10 minutes.
Down 59-53 with 9:27 left, Minnesota prevented Chaminade from making it past midcourt within 10 seconds, leading to a second consecutive layup for Maurice Walker. Malik Smith cut the deficit to 3 points on Minnesota's next possession.
Minnesota (6-2) then went on a 13-point run during which Chaminade committed three turnovers and missed five 3-pointers. Austin Hollins gave Minnesota its first lead of the second half at 65-64 with a 3-pointer from the left wing with less than seven minutes remaining.
Minnesota shot just over 41 percent in the second half after shooting under 36 percent the first 20 minutes. Minnesota made just two of 12 3-pointers in the first half.
Smith had 16 points while Walker had 10 points and seven rebounds.
The win allowed Minnesota — which received votes in the last Associated Press Top 25 poll — to salvage a win in Hawaii after two straight losses. The Golden Gophers lost to No. 8 Syracuse on Monday and Arkansas on Tuesday. Minnesota places seventh in the tournament.
Lee Bailey scored 18 points for the Silverswords (2-3). Frankie Etuati scored 13 points while Kevin Hu had 12. After making more than half its shots in the first half, Chaminade made just nine of 28 field goals in the second half.
Christophe Varidel, who scored 42 points in an opening Maui loss to No. 18 Baylor, scored just 7 points and made one of nine 3-point shots.
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Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia
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