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FARGO, N.D. – North Dakota State senior Lawrence Alexander scored a career-high 31 points to propel the Bison men's basketball team to a 72-66 victory over Oral Roberts in the Summit League opener for both teams on Friday night at Scheels Arena.
 
Alexander scored 24 points in the final 14 minutes of the game, going 7-of-8 from the field, 5-of-6 from three-point range, and 5-of-5 from the free throw line in that time frame. As a team, the defending Summit League champion Bison made 19-of-20 attempts at the charity stripe.
 
The victory was NDSU's 18th straight at home, tying for the eighth-longest active streak in the nation. The Bison snapped a four-game losing streak to Oral Roberts.
 
NDSU trailed ORU 41-36 before Alexander's scoring outburst, but the Bison outscored the Golden Eagles 36-25 over the final 14 minutes. NDSU was behind 66-64 after a pair of free throws by ORU's Obi Emegano with 1:14 left, but Alexander responded with a three-point play to give the Bison the lead, and Kory Brown stole the ball on the next possession to get Alexander two more free throws and seal the victory.
 
NDSU (9-5 overall, 1-0 Summit) shot 11-for-22 from beyond the arc (50 percent) and committed just six turnovers in the contest. It was the fourth time this season that the Bison connected for double digits in three-pointers and the ninth time they committed 10 or fewer turnovers.
 
ORU (6-8 overall, 0-1 Summit) was led by 25 points from Emegano. Denell Henderson added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Golden Eagles, who made their return to Summit League play after spending two years in the Southland Conference.
 
There were 12 ties and 10 lead changes in the game.
 
The Bison opened up an early 15-point lead at 21-6 less than 10 minutes into the game. Oral Roberts answered with an 11-0 run and eventually built a five-point lead of its own at 34-29 with 2:14 left in the half. The game was tied at 34-34 at halftime.
 
Sophomore forward Dexter Werner scored 13 points for NDSU. Redshirt freshman A.J. Jacobson led the Bison with six rebounds.
 
Alexander's previous career-high in scoring was 29 points at Montana on Dec. 7 this season.
 
NDSU hosts South Dakota State in another doubleheader on Sunday, Jan. 4, with the women's game scheduled to tip at 1 p.m. and the men's game at 4 p.m. inside Scheels Arena. Both contests will be televised on Midco Sports Network and ESPN3.