Jason Kapono had nine points and three assists in 17 minutes.

“Defense is our philosophy and trying to create offense from pressure defense and we’re trying to set that tone. Sometimes offense comes along a little slower, but defense should be a constant,” said Gary Kloppenburg, the team’s coach Wednesday night. “I was happy with the way we were able to force turnovers and Minnesota had 23 turnovers tonight, so you have to credit our effort.”

Six players scored eight or more points, paced by Gerald Wallace’s 16 points. Danny Johnson added 10 points off the bench and Jason Kapono, Loren Woods, Corey Benjamin each scored nine points. Tamar Slay tallied eight points and a team-best seven rebounds.

The Bobcats followed their solid defensive effort from Tuesday night’s game by holding the Wolves to .235 (4-17) from the field in the opening period. Charlotte enjoyed a 17-13 lead after the first quarter behind six points by Wallace and five points from Benjamin.

“Coach Bickerstaff stresses that defense comes first and we are following that philosophy,” Wallace said. “He wants us to be a running team and in order for that to happen we have to play defense. We’ve done a great job of that in the two games so far.”

Charlotte scored the first five points of the second period to take a 22-13 advantage and extended the lead to 31-19 with 2:13 left in the first half. The Bobcats scored 17 points off 18 Minnesota turnovers in the first half and took a 35-23 lead at intermission. Ten Bobcats scored in the opening half.

Minnesota tallied the first eight points of the third period to cut the score to 35-31, and the Wolves moved within 37-34. But Charlotte responded over the final five minutes of the quarter and used a 17-8 run to take a 56-44 lead after the third period. The Bobcats shot 7-12 (.583) from the field in the third period and Woods tallied seven points in the period.

Charlotte led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.