Nic Moore came up just short in his bid to end the season with a championship Thursday night.

Moore’s SMU team ended up on the short end of a 65-63 final to Minnesota in the title tilt of the NIT Tournament.

Moore, a former star guard at Warsaw, had a team-high 17 points in the championship contest played at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Mustangs, who finish the season at 27-10, took a seven-point lead with 5:52 left in the game after a 9-1 run sparked by Moore. The Golden Gophers quickly answered with a 7-0 run to tie the game.

Austin Hollins, who led Minnesota with 19 points, hit a 3-pointer with 46.1 seconds to play to give his team the lead for good. Andre Hollins hit 3-4 free throws in the final 16.3 seconds for the champions.

Minnesota, which finishes the season 25-13, led 30-27 at halftime. The Gophers hit 7-23 from 3-point range, while SMU was just 4-12.

Moore, who sat out last season after transferring from Illinois State,  closed out a seller sophomore campaign. He hit 5-12 shots from the field, including 1-5 from distance, and went 6-8 from the line. Moore also had seven assists and a pair of steals.

Nick Russell had 15 points for the Mustangs, who are coached by Larry Brown. SMU had four players score in double figures in the loss.

Andre Hollins finished with 13 points for Minnesota. DeAndre Mathieu scored all 13 of his points in the second half for the champions, who are coached by Richard Pitino, the son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino. The elder Pitino led the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament championship a year ago.

Austin Hollins was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.