Still alive in late March, Minnesota is finally learning to win the close ones. The short-handed Golden Gophers improved to 3-3 in overtime games this season, beating Washington 68-67 on Tuesday night in the NIT semifinals behind 20 points from freshman Andre Hollins. Hollins scored five of Minnesota's seven points in the extra period. With the shot clock winding down and the Gophers clinging to a one-point lead in the final minute, he banked in an off-balance shot to put Minnesota up 68-65. "We had to gut it out in overtime," Hollins said. "Any time you're fighting back, it's always tough," Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said. But in the second half, I thought we were a team. Minnesota dropped six straight late in the regular season, starting with an overtime loss to Wisconsin. "We had a tough stretch toward the end of the regular season, but everybody stayed together and everybody is on the same page," said Rodney Williams, who kept up his strong recent play with 18 points. Once we got that loss in the Big Ten tournament, we kind of just came together and said, 'If we get into a postseason tournament, we are going to play our hearts out.' And that's what we are doing now. Washington, which trailed by six with 91 seconds left in regulation, pulled within 59-57 on Ross' 3 with just under a minute to go, the closest the Huskies had been since midway through the first half. The freshman guard, a 91.6 percent free throw shooter, drained both to put the Gophers up by four. Minnesota turned the ball over 21 times in the game. "Just a comedy of turnovers there," coach Tubby Smith said. Wroten, a freshman who is Washington's second-leading scorer at 16.2 points per game, has struggled during the NIT, and he had just nine points Tuesday. "I'm just so proud of their perseverance, and their ability to overcome so many distractions," Smith said of his team. Just amazing. ... It's one of the hardest-working groups of kids I've ever worked with.