Stephon Marbury took over down the stretch and finished with 32 points and 11 assists last night to lead the Knicks past the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-87.

Marbury scored 15 of his points in the final quarter, including a personal 9-2 run that gave New York a 94-85 lead with 1:46 remaining. The Knicks won their third in a row and moved three games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2000-01 season.

Nazr Mohammed added 19 points, and Kurt Thomas had a strong defensive effort in limiting Kevin Garnett to 17 points – more than six below his average. Garnett also had 13 rebounds and eight assists, while Latrell Sprewell scored 22 and Sam Cassell 20 for the Timberwolves. Minnesota has lost five straight road games, its longest such skid since March 2001.

Michael Sweetney broke the game’s final tie by hitting a 14-footer for an 85-83 lead with 3:56 left. Marbury took over from there, making two free throws, penetrating for a three-point play, hitting a jumper over defensive specialist Trenton Hassell, then making two more from the line to give New York a nine-point lead.

Marbury shot 12-for-19 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line, and grabbed seven rebounds. Thomas scored 14 on 7-for-10 shooting.

The Knicks led for most of the game, going ahead by 13 in the second quarter before Minnesota slowly chipped away at the deficit.A 3-pointer by Cassell gave Minnesota a 78-77 lead with 6:21 left, and another 3-pointer by Cassell put the Timberwolves ahead 83-81 before the Knicks responded with a 13-2 spurt and held Minnesota without a field goal for more than 4 1/2 minutes.

Allan Houston missed his first seven shots and finished 2-for-11 with seven points.