MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota Duluth stayed within striking distance of the University of Minnesota during Thursday night’s exhibition game but the Gophers proved to be too strong in the second half as they defeated the Bulldogs 78-64 before a crowd of 9,308 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.

“At times we had lapses but we showed some intensity,” said Jordan Nuness, who transferred to UMD from Minnesota this fall. “I thought we played pretty well.”

The Bulldogs played well enough to put themselves ahead of the Gophers 28-23 with just over 3:00 remaining in the first half after a two-point basket from the left wing by John Vaudreuil. Moments later, Minnesota embarked on a 13-2 run led by Minneapolis, Minn., native Adam Boone, who went on a ten-point scoring spree of his own during that span to give the Gophers a 36-30 halftime advantage. Boone finished the contest with a game-high 30 points in 34 minutes of action.

During the second half, the Gophers continued to increase the deficit as the Bulldogs began to struggle from the field. Gradually, UMD started to feel the effects of being outrebounded on both ends of the court. The Bulldogs ended the night without an offensive rebound to their credit, while the Gophers benefited from 20 second chance opportunities.

“I thought we had too many dead periods tonight,” UMD head coach Gary Holquist said. “If you get outrebounded offensively like we did you take away scoring opportunities and give them more chances to score.”

John Emerson led the way in scoring for the Bulldogs with 13. Sean Seaman tallied nine points.

“It was a good experience,” Seaman said. “It was a lot of fun tonight. There were more positives than negatives. Exhibition games are there for us to learn from our mistakes.”

UMD will begin its 75th year of intercollegiate basketball Tuesday night at Bemidji State University. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.