NEW YORK, March 29 (UPI) -- Jarrett Mann touched off a nine-point run to open the second half Thursday that sent Stanford coasting past Minnesota 75-51 in the NIT championship game.
The Cardinal held the Golden Gophers to 19 field goals for the entire game -- two in the final 36 seconds -- and completed an unexpected run in the tournament after finishing seventh in the Pac-12 Conference.
Stanford defeated Cleveland State, Illinois State, Nevada and Massachusetts to get to the championship contest and then dominated in the second half after leading Minnesota by six at the break.
Mann scored the first four points after halftime and Minnesota went without a point for the first 4 minutes of the second period.
Aaron Bright and Chasson Randle both had 15 points to lead Stanford (26-11) and Anthony Brown had 11. Mann finished with nine, hitting 4-of-6 from the field while the Cardinal shot 52 percent as a team.
Rodney Williams scored 12 points for the Golden Gophers (23-15).
The Pac-12 put just two teams in the NCAA Tournament, neither of them being regular-season champion Washington. The conference wound up with a 1-2 NCAA record, but then produced the champion of the nation's oldest post-season collegiate basketball tournament Thursday.
