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Adam Boone had 21 points, including seven of Minnesota's final nine, to lead the Gophers to a 74-69 comeback victory over Duquesne in overtime on Monday night.
Kris Humphries added 20 points and Moe Hargrow 15 for Minnesota (6-2), which trailed by as many as 18 in the second half against the Dukes (2-6).
Boone's 3-pointer with 2:08 left in the extra period gave the Gophers their first lead, 68-67, and Humphries answered a basket by Duquesne's Elijah Palmer to put Minnesota ahead for good at 70-69. Boone went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to finish the game.
Palmer led the Dukes with 21 points, and Bryant McAllister and Jon Pawlak each had 11.
Humphries, who had only two points on 1-for-5 shooting in the first 20 minutes, nearly cost his team with a crucial foul late in regulation. McAllister stole the ball from Boone for a fastbreak layup that put Duquesne up 63-61 with 46.3 seconds left, and Humphries was simultaneously whistled for pushing Palmer -- who was setting a screen.
Palmer missed both
free throws, however, and Humphries drew a foul on Jimmy Tricco on the rebound
-- making both two foul shots on the other end to tie it at 63 with 45.4 seconds
left.
Hargrow missed a 15-footer as time expired in regulation. The Dukes went 2-for-7
from the foul line over the last six-plus minutes.
Minnesota's last game was 10 days ago, a frenetic 100-80 victory over Oral Roberts. The Gophers emerged from their final-exam break with a lethargic first half against a team that was winless in eight previous games on a Big Ten school's home court -- dating to a 35-26 defeat at Iowa in 1929.
Though the Dukes arrived with only one victory (over Loyola of Baltimore) since their season opener on Nov. 25, they played intracity rival and 16th-ranked Pittsburgh tough in a 59-45 loss and also took West Virginia to overtime on the road.
Duquesne used a 15-5 run over a span of nearly 6 1/2 minutes to build a healthy lead that was extended to 35-22 at the half on McAllister's 3-pointer with 4 seconds left.
The Gophers shot 9-for-30 in the first half, including 3-for-16 from 3-point range. They faced a 48-30 deficit with 14:28 to go before rallying.
A 14-0 run, keyed by five points from Hargrow and an intense full-court pressure defense, cut the lead to four as the Williams Arena crowd (announced at 11,753) roared like it's known to do for the first significant stretch this season.
Tricco was part of Gophers coach Dan Monson's last recruiting class at Gonzaga. Tricco played there two seasons before transferring to Duquesne -- which competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Minnesota, which normally wears gold at home and maroon on the road, sported white uniforms for the first time in Monson's five seasons.
Monson and his wife, Darcy, became parents of their second boy on Sunday -- Maddox Robert Monson.