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MINNEAPOLIS -- An off-court investigation and ankle injury slowed down Reggie Lynch earlier this year.Now his coach believes the redshirt junior is one of the Big Tens best players in the middle.Lynch and Jordan Murphy each had a double-double and Minnesota pulled away to beat Northern Illinois 77-57 Sunday.Lynch scored 11 of his career-high tying 18 points in the second half. His 11 rebounds were two off a career best.Murphy had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota (10-1). Nate Mason finished with 11 points and Akeem Springs and Dupree McBrayer had 10.I played pretty good, but everyone all around did very well, Lynch said.Accused of sexual assault in May and not allowed to practice with the team until it was announced in August he would not be charged with a crime, Lynch, who transferred from Illinois State, also missed the Nov. 25 game with an injured ankle.He just needs as many reps as he can, but I thought he was terrific today, said coach Richard Pitino. To me, I think hes one of the better centers in the league. . Hes a game-changer for us.Lynch feels like hes had a groove the whole time.I know how to play the game, he said. My teammates are finding me and everyone is playing really well. Even if Im in a little bit of pain on defense or trying to score I know my team has my back.Lynch and Murphy combined for 12 of Minnesotas first 21 second-half points as the Gophers, who led by six at the break, built a 50-38 lead. Springs, who played two seasons at Northern Illinois, had a 3-pointer and layup in that stretch.I thought that Lynch, he came out and it seemed like he wouldnt miss a shot in the first half. We tried to slow him down in the second half, but it just wasnt enough, said Northern Illinois coach Mark Montgomery.The Huskies (4-5) lost for the fourth time in five games. They were led by Marshawn Wilsons 19 points. Dontel Highsmith had 10.Northern Illinois has lost 14 straight games to Big Ten opponents since Dec. 14, 1999.Minnesota finished with a 48-28 rebounding advantage and was 25-for-30 from the free-throw line after entering the game with a 67.8 percent rate.PASSING FANCYMinnesota finished with 17 assists on 24 baskets.I think our whole team is really, really willing passers, Pitino said. Theyre very unselfish. . They look like theyre having fun together. Theyre constantly looking to share the ball.WELCOME HOMEA smattering of cheers could be heard when Northern Illinois Wilson made a play. He went to high school about 10 miles from Williams Arena and was a finalist for the states 2015 Mr. Basketball award. He had 13 points in his first six games before Sunday.BIG PICTURENorthern Illinois: The Huskies need to shoot better away from the basket. Northern Illinois had zero points outside the paint in the first half and finished with 10. The Huskies were 2-for-11 on 3-point attempts.Minnesota: The Gophers, who struggled in a 74-68 win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday but beat Georgia Southern by 37 on Friday, continue to seek offensive consistency. They shot just 30 percent in the first half despite a 5-for-21 start, but 53.6 percent in the second 20 minutes.UP NEXTNorthern Illinois: Plays its only home game in a 35-day stretch Wednesday against Olivet Nazarene. The Huskies have four road games in that span.Minnesota: The Gophers are home Wednesday against LIU Brooklyn before a nine-day layoff for final exams. Nike Air Presto Off White Nere . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Nike Cortez Nere . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. http://www.scarpenikescontate.it/nike-air-huarache-sconti.html . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Nike Air More Uptempo Nere . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost. Nike Air More Uptempo Rosse . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Nothing is ever easy for the rival Koreas, even that most ubiquitous and usually innocent of Olympic interactions, the selfie.Like dozens of athletes at the Rio de Janeiro Games, gymnasts Hong Un Jong of North Korea and Lee Eun-ju of South Korea met on the sidelines during competition and training.The 17-year-old Lee, who is at her first Olympics, posed Thursday for a smiling selfie with Hong, a 27-year-old veteran. That friendly encounter and others between the two were captured by journalists -- and immediately took on larger significance for two countries still technically at war.Such meetings are not illegal in South Korea, but they are complicated by the two countries long history of animosity and bloodshed.Hong became the first female gymnast from North Korea to win a gold medal in 2008, when Lee was 9 and living in her native Japan. Lee moved to South Korea in 2013 because her Korean father wanted her to learn more about the countrys culture.A few days after the selfie was taken, Lee and Hong met again Sunday while on the floor at the same time during preliminary competition. Lee was eliminated, while Hong will compete in the vault final.IOC President Thomas Bach described the selfie as a great gesture.Fortunately, we see quite a few of these gestures here during the Olympic Games, Bach said Tuesday.Photos of their warm moments delighted many South Koreans and provided a rare note of concord in otherwise abysmal relations between the rivals. It is unclear if the gymnasts interaction was seen in the North, an authoritarian state with extremely limited press freedom and where access to outside media is usually blocked.The Korean Peninsula is still technically in a state of war because there has been no peace treaty signed to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War. Nearly 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea, and the neighbors regularly trade insults and warnings of war, including recent threats from the North of missile strikes on Seoul and its ally, Washington.A web of laws, most left over from the days when the South was ruled by a dictatorship, govern how South Koreans are supposed to interact with North Koreans. Travel and communication are severely restricted; even praising the North is illegal in the South.South Koreans are required by law to obtain government permission for anny planned meeting, communication or other contact with North Koreans.ddddddddddddThis requirement is waived for spontaneous interactions with North Koreans that can happen during foreign travel. But South Koreans must still provide an account of what happened to the South Korean Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean issues, within seven days, according to the laws.The Unification Ministry said that South Korean athletes at international sporting competitions like the Olympics arent required to submit reports about their encounters with North Koreans because its obvious that their purpose of participating in the events has nothing to do with meeting North Koreans.These brief, friendly moments between North and South Korean athletes at the Olympics may not seem to be a big deal to outsiders, but they often stimulate deep emotions on the Korean Peninsula, which has been divided by the worlds most heavily armed border for decades and where many long for eventual reunification.Inter-Korean ties, never good, have been terrible in the past decade of conservative rule in the South. But there were friendlier days under previous liberal governments in Seoul, and they were often seen most clearly in sports. North and South Koreans, for instance, marched together under a flag that symbolized unification during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.Whatever happens in politics, many South Koreans love seeing their athletes treating North Korean competitors with respect, and theres always lots of media attention on these moments of harmony. North Korea also cherishes the idea of unification, and much of its propaganda is aimed at stirring such feelings in the South, though the Norths vision is of a single Korea controlled by Pyongyang.When North Koreas womens soccer team won gold at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, and the South won bronze, many South Koreans expressed delight in seeing players from both countries celebrate together after the medal ceremony, smiling and putting their arms around each other.Similarly, the Rio Olympic selfies represent a small thaw in otherwise frigid ties.---Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.---Follow Foster Klug at www.twitter.com/apklug ' ' '