MINNESOTA COMES UP SHORT DOWN THE STRETCH

The Minnesota men's basketball team put forth a valiant effort Thursday night, however, couldn't make enough plays down the stretch and fell to Illinois 52-41 at Assembly Hall in Champaign.

The Gophers, who are fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid, led by one with 10:09 remaining in regulation but went without a field goal for the final 6:21 of the game before falling by double digits.

Damian Johnson paced the Gophers with a game-high 18 points and three blocks. Ralph Sampson III added eight points and Travis Busch poured in five. Colton Iverson grabbed eight rebounds in the loss. Minnesota falls to 20-8 overall and 8-8 in Big Ten play with two games remaining in the regular season .

Mike Davis posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Illini. Trent Meacham scored 13 and Demetri McCamey added 10. The 20th-ranked Illini improve to 23-6 overall and 11-5 in the Big Ten.

Early, it appeared as if Minnesota was prime to upset the Illini in their final road game of the season.

Led by the play of Johnson, Minnesota jumped out to leads of 9-2 three minutes into the game and 15-11 eight minutes into the contest. Johnson scored 12 of Minnesota's first 15 points of the half and was responsbile for seven of Minnesota's 11 made field goals over the first 20 minutes of play. In total, Minnesota went 11-of-32 (34.4 percent) in the first half. Meanwhile, Illinois didn't fair much better - going 11-of-31 (35.5 percent) from the field. Still, the Illini went on a 5-0 run to close the half and took a 28-23 lead into the locker room.

Minnesota rallied back in the second stanza, eventually taking a 39-38 lead with 10:09 left in regulation following a layup by Travis Busch.

The Gophers' lead was short lived, though.

A layup by Davis put the Illini up by one with 9:45 remaining and Bruce Weber's squad never looked back.

A jumper by Sampson III pulled Minnesota to within one, 42-41, with 6:21 to go. But the Gophers went without a field goal for the remainder of regulation and Illinois finished the game on a 10-0 run. For the game, Minnesota shot 31.7 percent (19-of-60). The Illini shot 21-of-50 (42 percent).

Minnesota returns to action Wednesday as the Gophers face Wisconsin at Williams Arena.