NEW YORK – When the buzzer sounded, the Gophers men's basketball team could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Two days after collapsing in the second half against an athletic St. John's team, the Gophers narrowly avoided the same dramatic fate vs. Georgia in the consolation game of the NIT Season Tip-Off, holding on for the 66-62 victory on Friday at Madison Square Garden.

The same sticky habits that took down the Gophers on Wednesday reared up again on Friday, causing them to watch another double-digit lead crumble away and giving the team plenty to work on with another game away from Williams Arena — at Wake Forest on Tuesday night — looming.

"We found a way to win," Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. "We wouldn't like to lose a lead, but … they held off the run, which we certainly didn't do vs. St. John's."

After falling behind by as many as 16 points earlier in the second half, Georgia charged back within three with 27 seconds remaining after Nemanja Djurisic and J.J. Frazier hit three-pointers in the final minute.

The Gophers gave the Bulldogs an outside chance by missing four of six free throws in the final 39 seconds. But with Georgia down four, Juwan Parker missed a three-pointer with 15 seconds left.

King followed with two missed free throws, but the Bulldogs didn't get another shot off until only one second remained.

"It was really important for us to bounce back for this game," forward Joey King said. "We knew we were capable of getting this win and ... just with our mental and physical toughness, it's going to be important that we come in prepared to play on the road."

Still, there were hints that the Gophers (4-2) aren't there yet.

Midway through the second half, they started to abandon the good fundamental basketball that had them up 37-25 at the break.

The Gophers went 12-for-23 from the free-throw line — poor foul shooting has been a trend throughout the young season for them — and lost the rebounding battle 37-30.

With the Gophers forcing shots and sending the Bulldogs (3-3) to the line, Georgia began to creep back, pulling within seven after JJ Frazier followed a pair of free throws with a three-pointer with 11:48 to play. Mo Walker's two free throws combined with a vintage DeAndre Mathieu three-point play had the Gophers up 11 points again, but Georgia kept churning away.

King had nine points over the last 7:05, helping to keep the Gophers on top until the very end. He finished with a game-high 15 points. Mathieu had 12 points, five assists and three steals.

"In the huddles, with the five of us out on the court, we were talking about how it was time to grow up," King said. "Start making winning plays and stop fearing losing."

From the start, the Gophers' play couldn't have looked more different from the team that took the court Wednesday. They kept the Bulldogs off-kilter with defense, forcing 15 first-half turnovers. And some good ball movement and hot shooting from the perimeter — including three three-pointers from sophomore forward Charles Buggs — had the Gophers mostly cruising offensively.

"Joey can shoot; Buggs can shoot; Nate [Mason] can shoot," Pitino said. "We like to have ideally four guys on the court that can shoot at all times, and I think we were getting some pretty good looks too."