VERMILLION, S.D. - Eric Carlson scored a season-high 19 points and North Dakota State made all eight free throws in the final 61 seconds to hold off South Dakota for an 82-71 win in Summit League men's basketball Saturday, Feb. 11, before a crowd of 1,952 at the DakotaDome.

North Dakota State (16-9, 9-6) trailed 39-35 at halftime but scored 11 straight points and converted on nine of its first 12 possessions in the second half to go ahead for good.

NDSU shot 68.2 percent in the second half and finished 56.9 percent for the game.  Lawrence Alexander and Taylor Braun finished with 13 points, TrayVonn Wright had 10, and Marshall Bjorklund nine.

Louie Krogman scored 24 points and Charlie Westbrook scored 22 for South Dakota (9-15, 4-11), which started the second half 2-for-16 from the floor.  Steve Tecker had 11 of his 15 points off the bench in the first half to spark the Coyotes.

USD had a 31-29 rebounding advantage led by Ricardo Andreotti's nine. Braun and Bjorklund had seven boards each for NDSU.  Alexander and Carlson each had four assists.

The Bison opened the second half on a 21-5 run to build their biggest lead of the night, 56-44 with 12:20 left.  USD got within 69-65 at the 3:00 mark before Joel Lindberg's 3-pointer from the right wing made it a seven-point game.

Alexander scored two possessions later to push the NDSU lead to nine.  Alexander made two free throws, Lundberg made two, and Braun made four to close out the game.

North Dakota State is scheduled to play at South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, at Frost Arena in Brookings.  The Jackrabbits are 20-7 overall and 12-3 in the league after beating UMKC 75-62 on Saturday.