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FARGO, N.D. – Senior Lawrence Alexander scored 27 points and drained five three-pointers on Senior Day to lift the North Dakota State men's basketball team to a 66-62 victory over Fort Wayne at Scheels Arena on Saturday afternoon. It was the 25th consecutive home win for the Bison, who close the regular season with a 14-0 home record.
 
NDSU improved to 20-8 overall and 12-3 in The Summit League, clinching a top-two seed for the league tournament that will be played March 7-10 in Sioux Falls.
 
The Bison have posted three straight 20-win seasons for just the second time in school history. NDSU won 20-plus games for four straight seasons from 1993-97. NDSU's 70 wins over the last three seasons are the most in school history in a three-year span.
 
Alexander scored 20 or more points for the 13th time this season, making 10-of-19 shots and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. NDSU freshman A.J. Jacobson poured in 16 points and four three-pointers.
 
NDSU shot 11-for-21 from three-point range in the game.
 
IPFW (15-12, 8-6 Summit League) was led by 20 points from senior guard Joe Edwards.
 
The Bison led 34-29 at halftime, but the Mastodons fought back to take a 45-42 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game. NDSU answered with a 10-0 run in less than two minutes that featured a game-changing sequence from freshman guard Paul Miller.
 
Miller opened the Bison run by finding Kory Brown in the lane for a layup. After an Alexander layup put NDSU back in the lead, Miller stole the ball from IPFW's Steve Forbes and drilled a three-pointer at the other end. A trey by Jacobson pushed the Bison lead to 52-45 with 7:32 left.
 
IPFW was able to trim its deficit to two points at 64-62 with five seconds remaining after a four-point play and another trey by Edwards, but Jacobson made a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
 
Alexander moved from eighth to sixth on the NDSU all-time scoring list, passing Taylor Braun (2010-14) and Steve Saladino (1972-76) with 1,673 career points.
 
NDSU will close the regular season at Oral Roberts on Thursday, Feb. 26. A win would guarantee at least a share of the league's regular season title.