FARGO, N.D. - Freddy Coleman scored a career-high 19 points and Marshall Bjorklund had 11 of his 14 points in the second half to lead North Dakota State to a 76-71 win over UC Davis in college men's basketball Thursday, Dec. 16, before a crowd of 2,355 at the Bison Sports Arena.

Bjorklund broke a 69-69 tie and gave the North Dakota State (7-3) the lead for good with 2:47 left when he made the first of two free throws and followed his own miss for a 72-69 lead.

Eric Carlson had 16 points, four rebounds and a team-high five assists for NDSU, and Michael Tveidt finished with 13 points for the Bison, who won their fifth straight home game dating back to last year.

Carlson's pass to Tveidt with 33.7 seconds left led to an open basket that gave the Bison a 74-69 lead.

Mark Payne answered with a pair of free throws to cut it to 74-71 with 19.2 seconds left, but NDSU got the inbounds pass to leading free-throw shooter Nate Zastrow, who made two shots with 16.8 left.

UC Davis (4-7) missed a 3-pointer on its final possession and couldn't get a second shot off.

Payne had 16 points and four assists, and Josh Ritchart led the Aggies with 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

North Dakota State made its first four 3-point attempts and Bjorklund's layup capped an early 14-0 run that put the Bison ahead 15-3.  That was NDSU's biggest lead of the night just 3:56 into the game.

UC Davis cut it to 19-17 at the 11:48 mark and went ahead 38-35 on a Ritchart 3-pointer with 1:39 to go.  The Aggies led 38-37 at halftime after a Carlson basket.

Coleman, who had 14 of his 19 points in the first half, made a go-ahead 3-pointer to start the second half and the Bison extended that into a 12-2 run.

UC Davis went back ahead on a Joe Harden basket with 10:05 left that made it 56-55.

The Bison answered with six straight points and never trailed from there, but the game was within five the rest of the way.

NDSU had a 38-27 edge in total rebounds including 16 second-chance points off 16 offensive boards.

The Bison were just 13 of 24 from the free-throw line for 54.2 percent, the second straight game NDSU has hovered around the 50-percent mark.

North Dakota State is scheduled to play Fresno State at 7 p.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 18, in Fresno, Calif.  The Bulldogs are 3-5 after a 64-51 home win over Pepperdine last Saturday.