When Gophers guard Mike Mitchell Jr. hit a deep 3-pointer against Maine on Friday, Williams Arena’s public address announcer Jamie Verbrugge added geographical flavor to his call.

“From St. Paul!”

Mitchell was feeling it in Minneapolis in the first half of a 80-62 win in the final nonconference game of the season.

Minnesota (9-3) has won five in a row and has its second nine-win nonconference record in three seasons. In head coach Ben Johnson’s first year, they went 9-1 in 2021-22 before slipping to 7-5 last season.

On Friday, Mitchell finished with 18 points; he had a season-high 20 points in the U’s win over Ball State last week.

Cam Christie and Pharrel Payne picked up where Mitchell left off in the first half. Christie played in front of older brother, Max, who is in town for the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Timberwolves on Saturday night.

Christie might have been trying too hard at the start, missing his first six shots but rebounded finish with eight points.

Those players stepped up as Gophers leading scorer and rebounder Dawson Garcia showed some rust in his return. Garcia reentered the starting lineup after a three-game absence for an ankle injury suffered in the 76-65 win over Nebraska on Dec. 6. Garcia was quiet in the first half, with only 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting. He finished with 12 on 4-of-10 shooting.

The Gophers’ 13-point halftime lead was cut to five with an 8-0 run by Maine over the opening four minutes of the second half.

The Gophers led 41-28 at halftime, shooting 52% from the field and 57% from 3-point range. They finished at 51% from the field and 46% from deep.

Their best stretch was making five straight three pointers to take a 23-18 lead midway through the first half. Mitchell’s first trey from very deep started the stretch.

Mitchell led both teams with 12 points, all off 3-pointers, in the first half. Elijah Mitchell and Isaiah Ihnen each made two treys in the opening half.

Minnesota was a 14-point betting favorite over an opponent more tha 120 spots lower in the NET rankings (88 to 212). Maine (8-7) fell lost its third straight game.

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