The Minnesota Timberwolves finished stronger than the New Orleans Pelicans for the second time during their three-night visit.

Two nights after outscoring the Pelicans 20-13 in overtime of a 149-142 victory, the Timberwolves outscored them 37-26 in the fourth quarter of a 125-116 victory on Thursday night.

The rematch featured 17 lead changes and 13 ties before the Timberwolves’ 15-0 run early in the fourth quarter produced the 18th and final lead change as well as control of the outcome for Minnesota (14-8).

“We had a couple of turnovers, we got stagnant against their zone defense and missed a couple of layups, and they got some points in transition and that was the game,” Pelicans interm head coach James Borrego said.

Former Pelican Julius Randle, who scored eight of his 16 points in the overtime Tuesday, scored a game-high 28 points and former LSU player Naz Reid had 19 points, including eight during the pivotal surge, to lead the Timberwolves.

Rudy Gobert added 15 points and 12 rebounds, Donte Divincenzo scored 15, Jaden McDaniels had 14 and Jaylen Clark scored 12.

Anthony Edwards, who was looking to break a tie with Kevin Love for a Minnesota franchise-record six straight games with 30 or more points, finished with 11 after missing the final 10:32 of the third quarter when he committed his fourth foul.

“We did a heck of a job on (Edwards),” Borrego said of the three-time All-Star who averages nearly 30 points. “He’s a heck of a player.”

Trey Murphy III had team-highs of 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, Jeremiah Fears had 20 points (his third consecutive game with at least 20 points), seven rebounds and six assists, Saddiq Bey scored 20, Bryce McGowens scored 15, Jose Alvarado had 13 and Derik Queen added 12 to lead the Pelicans (3-20), who play the Nets in Brooklyn at 4 p.m. CST on Saturday.

Center Karlo Matkovic returned from an eight-game absence due to a strained right calf and had eight points and six rebounds in 18½ minutes.

“He played with energy,” Borrego said of Matkovic. “He provides a different element to our offense and our defense.”

Borrego has been emphasizing to the Pelicans to shoot more 3-pointers. They shot just 21 in Tuesday’s game and even though they made 12 for a season-best 57.1 percent they couldn’t keep up with the Wolves, who made 20 of 51.

On Thursday, Minnesota made 15 of 38 (39.5 percent) and New Orleans made 7 of 25 (28 percent).

Obviously the three-point line cost us tonight,” Borrego said. “We’ll continue to chip away at that.”

The score was tied at halftime and six more times in the third quarter before Matkovic’s dunk gave New Orleans a 90-88 lead at the end of the period.

“We were the aggressor going into the fourth quarter,” Borrego said.

Reid’s 3-pointer produced the first tie of the fourth quarter and he made another 3-pointer and a dunk during the pivotal run as New Orleans scored just one point until Fears made a layup to stop the run with 7:12 remaining.

“They threw us off a little bit with the zone,” Fears said.

By that time Minnesota enjoyed a 103-93 lead and the closest the Pelicans got the rest of the way was eight points.

“We had a great pace (through three quarters),” Bey said. “When they slow the pace down we’ve got to execute better.”

The first quarter featured 10 lead changes and four ties and the Wolves held a 35-30 lead when it was over.

“We gave up 35 points in the first quarter and 37 in the fourth,” Borrego said. “Defensively we’ve got to be better in those two quarters.”

Randle had a carry-over from the overtime Tuesday as he scored 10 points in the first period, and Fears matched him with 10 points to lead the Pelicans.

“(Fears) got off to a great start and set the tone,” Borrego said.

Gobert, DiVincenzo and Randle each scored three points during an 11-0 run that gave Minnesota the biggest lead of the first half, 50-40. Matkovic made consecutive dunks to trigger a 22-12 closing run by New Orleans that produced a 62-all tie at halftime after the Pelicans outscored the Wolves 22-8 in the paint in the second quarter.

New Orleans finished with a 68-52 scoring edge in the paint and forced 20 turnovers while committing just 12.