In a slugfest with Omaha-Nebraska on Saturday afternoon, the Gophers needed something — anything — to turn the tide late. They finally got it with just under 6 minutes remaining, and while it didn’t exactly bury the Mavericks, it provided the separation needed for a 68-64 victory.

“We were looking for something to get us going,” coach Ben Johnson said.

Trailing 75-54, the Gophers got a 3-pointer from freshman guard Isaac Asuma to tie it, an offensive rebound and two free throws from Trey Edmonds and, after a steal by Asuma, a dunk from Brennan Rigsby to cap a 7-0 run that finally put Minnesota ahead for good, 61-57.

“To get the dunk, it gets the crowd going. It’s a force play,” Johnson said. “I thought it carried us from there and gave guys a little bit of a spirit.”

Dawson Garcia scored on an offensive rebound, added a key free throw and forced a turnover in the final 2 minutes and Minnesota held off the Mavericks, 68-64, in a stop-and-start game at Williams Arena.

Garcia scored a game-high 24 points and team-high seven rebounds, and Lu’Cye Patterson made a key stop and made two free throws with 19 seconds left to help keep Omaha scoreless over the last 1 minute, 40 seconds.

But Minnesota (2-0) also lost their starting point guard late when Mike Mitchell made a mid-court steal then landed awkwardly on a layup attempt and limped off the guard with an apparent ankle injury after playing nearly 23 minutes.

“Hoping it’s a sprain,” coach Ben Johnson said.

The good news is Patterson, a fifth-year senior who played at Charlotte last season, was impressive on Saturday, finishing with eight points, six assists (against two turnovers) and six rebounds. He forced a bad shot by JJ White and grabbed the rebound before being fouled with 19.6 seconds left.

His two free throws were the last points of the game.

“I moved my feet and made a big stop,” Patterson said. “I was into the game. I feel like he got me in the first half — you know, he scored on me, so I took it personally. I kinda wanted him to try something at the end.”

Edmonds was the only other Gophers player to score in double figures. He was 4 of 6 from the field and from the free throw line, scored 12 points and added a pair or rebounds in 17:42.

“It was a physical game, for sure, and we knew coming in it wasn’t going to be a sweet game or an easy game that we could just stroll into,” Edmonds said, “and I feel like the first half we kinda did just that.”

Kamryn Thomas led the Mavericks (2-1) with 14 points, closely followed by Marquel Sutton’s 13, 11 from big man Isaac Odekane — who played a game-high 37 minutes — and 10 by JJ White.

Minnesota (2-0) trailed 33-30 at halftime, and didn’t tie the game until Isaac Asuma’s 3-pointer with 5:51 left made it 57-57. That was the start of a 9-0 run that was capped by a Brennan Rigsby dunk off a fastbreak that started with a steal by Asuma to make it 61-57.

“Second half we came out with more fire and kind of delivered the blow rather than taking it,” Edmonds said.

The Gophers never trailed again, although their lead was never bigger than four the rest of the way. The biggest lead in the entire game, in fact, was six points, when the Gophers took a 22-18 lead on Garcia’s three-point play with 8:28 left in the first half.

In the end, the Gophers were outrebounded 37-34 and outgunned on 3-pointers 6-3 yet still found a way to win.

“We needed a game like this badly,” Johnson said. “We needed to feel game pressure on both sides of the ball. And another reason we scheduled this is I knew with the way (Omaha) plays, it would prepare us for Wednesday against North Texas.”

Now Johnson and the Gophers wait to see if big man Frank Mitchell (shoulder) and Mike Mitchell will be available against the Mean Green. The coach said both might be game-time decisions.

“Hopefully Mike’s OK and it’s nothing too bad. He’s going to get it looked at, and obviously our fingers are crossed,” Johnson said.

Briefly

Johnson said Caleb Williams, a transfer from Macalester, has mononucleosis, and that Grayson Grove, a freshman from Alexandria, is going to redshirt this season.

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