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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Taylor Braun scored 21 points to lead six Bison players in double figures as the North Dakota State men's basketball team held on for a 91-85 road victory over Santa Clara at the Leavey Center on Friday, Nov. 29.
 
Braun set the NDSU school record for most free throws made in a game without a miss, going a perfect 19-for-19 at the charity stripe. As a team, NDSU was 32-for-36 in free throws.
 
Mike Felt (15), Lawrence Alexander (15), Marshall Bjorklund (13), TrayVonn Wright (12) and Kory Brown (10) all joined Braun with double-digit scoring in the contest.
 
NDSU (3-3) advances to play Rider in the title game of the 47th annual Cable Car Classic at approximately 10:15 p.m. (PT)/8:15 p.m. (CT) on Saturday night. Rider posted a 97-93 overtime victory over Rice in Friday's first game.
 
NDSU shot 27-for-46 (58.7 percent) for the game after going 17-for-21 (81 percent) in the first half to take a 50-39 halftime lead. Wright went 6-of-6 from the floor, and Bjorklund was 6-of-7.
 
Brandon Clark led Santa Clara (2-3) with 32 points.
 
Braun and Alexander each grabbed eight rebounds to help the Bison to a 35-22 advantage on the glass.

The Bison opened up a 22-13 lead just over seven minutes into the game and led 33-25 with 7:47 to play in the first half, but Santa Clara used a 12-3 run to claim a brief lead at 37-36 with 4:44 left before halftime. NDSU responded with 10 unanswered points, keyed by a traditional three-point play by Alexander and a three-pointer by Felt.

Santa Clara trimmed its 11-point halftime deficit to one point at 72-71 and again at 76-75 with four minutes remaining, but NDSU never relinquished its lead. Leading 85-83 with 31 seconds to play, Brown and Braun teamed up to make a steal, and Braun connected on all six free throw tries over the final 23 seconds.