Flipping the script on the first exhibition game, Ben Johnson’s Gophers basketball team got off to a scorching start Tuesday night with a 19-0 lead against Division III’s Hamline at Williams Arena.

An injury to starting big man Frank Mitchell early in the first half soured the energy in the building, but the Gophers still managed a 79-57 victory in their final tune-up before the regular season.

The hard-hitting 6-8, 260-pound junior transfer from Canisius dove in for a steal at midcourt around the 16-minute mark. After a Hamline player landed on him, Mitchell writhed in pain before holding his right arm and walking to the locker room.

The Gophers seemed to lose much interest in the game for several minutes thinking about Mitchell, but his teammate returned to the bench with ice on his shoulder.

Opening the game, Mike Mitchell Jr. helped the Gophers go 4-for-4 from three-point range with three long-range baskets in the first two and a half minutes. Brennan Rigsby, who finished with a team-high 16 points, launched her own three-point barrage to open the second half with three straight deep shots as well. Rigsby and Mitchell combined for seven of the team’s 11 3-pointers.

However, Johnson’s roster at the start of the season was already banged up with potential starting wing Femi Odukale missing both exhibition games to rest a hip injury. Senior guard Tyler Cochran will also be out at least another month following foot surgery.

The Gophers started senior guard and Minneapolis native Lu’Cye Patterson in his home debut Tuesday night after missing Bemidji State’s exhibition game with a shoulder injury.

Patterson last played at Williams Arena in high school with Brooklyn Center, but finished his career at Minnesota Prep. He recorded his first unofficial basket in a Gophers uniform midway through the first half to break the team’s four-minute scoring drought.