The North Dakota State men's basketball team (13-11) carries an eight-game winning streak into the National Independent Tournament this week in Fort Myers, Fla. The Bison need to win at least two games to secure a winning record this season.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: All tournament games will be played at the 4,500-seat Alico Arena at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. Starting times are Eastern.

Thursday, Feb. 17

• Game 1--Central State (Ohio) vs. North Dakota State, 11 a.m.
• Game 2--Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras vs. South Dakota State, 1:15 p.m.
• Game 3--Upper Iowa vs. Puerto Rico-Bayamon, 3:30 p.m.
• Game 4--North Greenville (S.C.) at Florida Gulf Coast, 8 p.m.

• Game 7--Loser game 1 vs. Loser game 2, 1:15 p.m.
• Game 8--Loser game 3 vs. Loser game 4, 3:30 p.m.
• Game 9--Winner game 1 vs. Winner game 2, 5:45 p.m.
• Game 10--Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 4, 8 p.m.

• Game 11--Seventh place, Loser game 7 vs. Loser game 8, 11 a.m.
• Game 12--Fifth place, Winner game 7 vs. Winner game 8, 1:15 p.m.
• Game 13--Third place, Loser game 9 vs. Loser game 10, 3:30 p.m.
• Game 15--Championship, Winner game 9 vs. Winner game 10, 8 p.m.

BROADCASTS: There will be no radio or television coverage of the opening round game against Central State. WDAY-AM 970 of Fargo is scheduled to broadcast Friday and Saturday's games. Scott Miller will have the play-by-play call.

THE SERIES: Thursday will be the first meeting between North Dakota State and Central State. In fact, the only teams in the tournament the Bison have played are South Dakota State and Upper Iowa. The Bison are 97-90 against SDSU and 2-0 against Upper Iowa.

WINNING STREAKS: North Dakota State has won eight games in a row for the second time since early in the 1999-00 season under coach Ray Giacoletti. The other occurrence was last season when the Herd went on to a 10-game winning streak, the longest in the tenure of head coach Tim Miles.

HAHN MAKES 18 IN A ROW: North Dakota State reserve point guard Phil Hahn made four more free throws last Saturday against Upper Iowa to extend his streak to 18 in a row, but he missed the front end of a two-shot foul to fall short of his previous streak of 19 in a row from earlier this season.

KELCHEN ON THE BLOCK: North Dakota State center Andy Kelchen blocked five shots against Mayville State last Friday and blocked six shots in the win over Minnesota-Crookston the previous week. The six blocks were a career high for Kelchen and one shy of the school-record seven blocks by Jason Wenschlag in 1990-91. Kelchen has 36 rejections this year and is the only Bison player with more than four swats.

BIG SECOND HALVES: North Dakota State scored 50 points in the second half for the third straight game at Minnesota-Crookston on Feb. 2. In addition, North Dakota State has six other second-half scoring spurts of 40 or more points this season. Here are the 40-plus second-half efforts:

• 2/1 vs. Northern State (53)
• 1/26 vs. Minnesota-Crookston (52)
• 2/2 at Minnesota-Crookston (50)
• 2/5 vs. Si Tanka-Huron (45)
• 12/10 vs. Minnesota State-Mankato (45)
• 11/27 at Southwest Minnesota State (44)
• 2/11 vs. Mayville State (42)
• 12/30 vs. Rider (41)
• 1/8 vs. Concordia-Moorhead (41)

North Dakota State's 46 first-half points against Si Tanka-Huron was NDSU's best scoring output before halftime this year and one of only three first halves of at least 40 points. The others were 43 vs. Dakota Wesleyan and 40 vs. Mayville State.

BISON NEED TWO WINS: North Dakota State needs two wins in its four remaining games to secure the program's 31st winning season in the last 36 years. NDSU had 14 straight winning seasons from 1977-78 to 1990-91 and eight straight from 1993-94 to 2000-01.

BISON ON THE GLASS: North Dakota State has outrebounded its opponent in 17 of the 24 games this season. The plus-19 margin over Mayville State last Friday was NDSU's largest advantage on the glass this season, and the minus-14 margin at UMKC on Jan. 10 was the largest opponent's advantage.

OFFENSE CLICKING: North Dakota State has gone over the 80-point mark five times in the last six games, including a season-high 91 points against Si Tanka-Huron. The Bison only scored 72 against Upper Iowa last Saturday, but six players hit double figures in a balanced scoring effort.

SIX SCORE IN DOUBLE DIGITS: Six Bison players scored in double figures as North Dakota State beat Upper Iowa 72-61 last Saturday. Andy Kelchen had a game-high 14 points, Myron Green and David Erbes each scored 11, while Adam Dobmeier and Matt Gerber each had 10.

FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES: North Dakota State scored five players in double-figures in the first meeting with Minnesota-Crookston on Jan. 26. Myron Green scored 20 points, Andy Kelchen had 18, David Erbes and Adam Dobmeier each scored 11, and Brandon Smith chipped in 10.

BISON 0-9 AGAINST DIVISION I: North Dakota State is 0-9 against Division I opponents this year, but the Bison have at least one and possibly two matchups left with South Dakota State this season. The last Bison win against a D-I team was by forfeit. Minnesota beat North Dakota State 101-68 at Minneapolis in the 1976-77 season opener before surrendering the victory due to NCAA rule violations.

OLD-TIME "BIG" WINS: Dating back to the 1920s, '30s and '40s, North Dakota State has defeated several current Division I members, including Idaho, Iowa, Montana State, Montana, Washington and Washington State. The latest was a 45-44 win over Idaho in the third game of the 1940-41 season. The NCAA went to three divisions in 1973.

LIESER, BELQUIST LEAVE TEAM: North Dakota State freshmen Ryan Lieser and Alex Belquist left the team earlier this month. Lieser sustained a stress fracture in his leg and could not continue. Belquist, a redshirt for the Bison football team last fall, left to concentrate on football.

THREE OVERTIMES: North Dakota State's triple-overtime win over Minnesota-Duluth on Dec. 15 was the second-longest game in school history behind the 1958-59 win over Northern Iowa (109-107) that took six overtimes. That game still stands as a North Central Conference record for the most overtimes played in a game.

KELCHEN ON THE SPOT: Bison senior Andy Kelchen figured into all three overtime endings as North Dakota State defeated Minnesota-Duluth on Dec. 15. He was there for a defensive rebound to end the first OT after a Duluth miss, his jumper with 18 seconds left in the second OT knotted the game at 78, and his two free throws in the last period held up as the winning shots after the Bison forced two turnovers and a miss. Kelchen also had a team- and career-high six assists in the game.

SIXTH LARGEST ROAD CROWD: The crowd of 9,065 that watched the season-opener between North Dakota State and Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan on Friday, Nov. 19, was the sixth largest recorded road attendance figure in NDSU history. The top five marks all occurred at the University of Minnesota, the largest being a draw of 17,500 on Nov. 30, 1974.

FIVE REDSHIRTS: NDSU is playing five men short this year and doing it by design. Bison head coach Tim Miles has his five newest recruits redshirting in an effort to build his team toward NCAA tournament eligibility in 2008-09. Guards Ben Woodside and Mike Nelson, and forwards Lucas Moormann, Tom Lunde, and Brett Winkelman will be on the shelf.

FIRST YEAR, SECOND YEAR: The 2004-05 season is North Dakota State's second year of a five-year transition to the Division I ranks. Some will call it NDSU's first year of a four-year transition at the D-I level. The Bison were in an "exploratory" year for the 2003-04 season and were still eligible for Division II and North Central Conference championships.