Senior Michael Thompson set a Big Ten tournament record with a career-high 35 points and sparked a decisive second-half surge as No. 8 seed Northwestern advanced to the quarterfinals with a 75-65 victory over ninth-seeded Minnesota on Thursday.

Drew Crawford scored 15 points and Alex Marcotullio added 13 off the bench for the Wildcats (18-12), who got five 3-pointers from Thompson and shot 9 of 31 from 3-point land. They shot a combined 69 3-pointers during a regular-season split with Minnesota.

Trevor Mbakwe had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Blake Hoffarber added 13 points for the Golden Gophers (17-14), who have dropped six straight and 10 of 11.

Thompson scored 12 points during a five-minute span early in the second half to turn a one-point deficit into a 53-45 lead with 10:19 to play.

Crawford scored nine of the next 11 points for Northwestern and a layup by Marcotullio with 4:21 left pushed the edge to 66-50, and Minnesota never threatened.

Neither team shot 40 percent in the first half, but Thompson managed to knock down three 3-pointers to stake the Wildcats to a 32-30 lead at intermission. Ralph Sampson III scored 10 for the Gophers.