Jason Richardson scored 25 points, and Emeka Okafor added 24 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats (6-11), who beat Minnesota for the fourth straight time over the past three seasons.

Randy Foye had 23 points and Mike Miller 19 for the Wolves (4-12), who play Wednesday at Orlando after dropping the opener of this three-game East Coast road trip.

Coach Randy Wittman pointed to 14 first-half turnovers (17 in all) as a key to the game. Center Al Jefferson, held under double figures in scoring for the first time this season with eight points, agreed.

"Our turnovers in the first half were just dumb turnovers," Wittman said. "We just made dumb decisions with the ball. In the second half, we took care of the ball. The first-half turnovers were just unnecessary. There's no excuse for those."

Jefferson had a similar review of his 3-for-11 shooting performance, but he gave some credit to the Bobcats, who frustrated him with the same kind of mock-trapping defense he has seen in the past three games.

"Ever since the Oklahoma (City) game, some teams will come and some will just act like they're coming," Jefferson said, "making me pass, and we aren't making shots so it's kind of bad for our offense. I just have to attack. Until I see them 100 percent trap me, then I move the ball. Now they're doing a great job of acting like they're going and stunting. It's messing me up."

Jefferson, who set a career high with six blocks, said he saw some of the same defense last season, and fought through it.

Wittman said Jefferson could have played better, but the coach was more upset about the early turnovers.

"At the start of the game, we didn't get good guard play," he said. "We turned it over, we weren't into things, the right people weren't getting touches early on."

In an effort to settle things down, Wittman played veteran guard Kevin Ollie for more than 12 1/2 minutes and forward Brian Cardinal for more than nine minutes in the second half, and said he thought both gave the team a lift.

"We've got to start finding guys and probably some veteran guys on this team," Wittman said, "that are going to follow game plans and what we want done."

Perhaps inspired by the presence of Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams, the Wolves opened with a rush.

With Miller knocking down two three-pointers, and Ryan Gomes and Foye hitting from inside the line, the Wolves made their first four shots while shooting to an early 10-7 lead.

A Foye three-pointer and Miller's baseline jumper made it 17-12 Minnesota, but Charlotte went on a 9-0 run before Rashad McCants broke the streak with a free throw.

McCants followed by converting a lob pass from Miller to cut the Bobcats' lead to 21-20 after one quarter.

Miller, who scored 10 points in the first period, finished it at Brewer's small forward spot and Rodney Carney entered early in the second.

Rookie Kevin Love gave the Wolves a 24-23 lead with two free throws and a 26-26 tie with a layup, but Charlotte ran off six straight points before Gerald Wallace hit a three-pointer for a 35-28 cushion.

Miller countered with a three of his own, but Richardson hit two treys in the final two minutes to give the Bobcats a 43-36 halftime lead.

Richardson had 19 first-half points for Charlotte and was 3 for 3 on three-pointers, while Miller had 13 points and five rebounds to lead the Wolves.

The Bobcats pushed their lead to 10 at the start of the second half on a layin and free throw by Okafor.

Charlotte got it up to 12 three times, but the Wolves wouldn't go away, cutting their deficit to 66-61 by the end of the third period.

They still had a shot with eight minutes to go, trailing 75-67, but the Bobcats went on a 9-3 run over the next two minutes, capped by Richardson's slam dunk to take command.

The Wolves never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

Gomes (16 points) and Love (10) joined Foye and Miller in double figures for the Wolves.

Wallace had 15 points, and Raymond Felton added 14 for the Bobcats.