MANKATO, Minn. -- The University of Nebraska at Omaha dug itself out of an early 13-point deficit, shooting 60 percent the second half, to defeat No. 9 Minnesota State, Mankato, 90-74, Saturday and earn a berth in the North Central Conference tournament championship game against North Dakota Sunday at 2 p.m.

The game, the final NCC men's basketball game ever, will be broadcast on KKAR, 1290 AM.

The Mavericks improved to 23-6 in defeating regular season champion Minnesota State for the first time in three meetings. MSU fell to 22-6.

North Dakota upset No. 2 seed Augustana, 82-68, in the first semifinal game Saturday.

UNO suffered through 2-for-11 shooting , including a scoreless stretch of nearly six minutes, during Minnesota State's 15-point run, and was also outrebounded 11-5, then got back into the game, hitting 8 of its next 14 shots. UNO trimmed the halftime deficit to five, 40-35, after trailing by as many as 13, 33-20, with 5:50 to play in the half.

UNO, which overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to defeat St. Cloud State in the first round Wednesday, followed nearly the same script Saturday. Playing a more aggressive defense after the break, UNO tied the game on Denny Johnston's three-pointer at 16:55, 44-44, and took the lead at 16:40 on Justin Petersen's two free throws, 46-44.

U NO never trailed again, although Minnesota State forged a tie at 54 on a free throw by Jake Morrow with 12:12 to play. UNO regained the lead on a jumper by Jerry Bennett seconds later and Bennett provided UNO its first double-digit lead when he shot down a jumper with 5:27 left for a 74-64 margin.

Bennett, a 6-7 senior from Waterloo, Iowa, finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds and held MSU center Atila Santos to 2-for-15 shooting and nine points and also forced five turnovers by the 6-10 senior from Brazil.

Sophomore guard Andrew Bridger led UNO with 25 points. He also had 4 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals in 38 minutes. Mitch Albers added 17 points and Johnston 12 with 7 rebounds.

UNO, the leading free-throw shooting team in Division II at 79.9 percent entering the game, salted the game away by hitting 26 of 32 for the game and 21 of 26 the second half.

Minnesota State managed one last rally after falling behind by 13. Jesse Clark hit a jumper and Jadee Jones two free shots, knocking it down to a nine-point deficit. Mitch Albers took some of the pressure off when UNO broke the press and he hit an uncontested three-pointer for an 84-72 lead with 2:25 to play.

Morrow led MSU with 19 points, but just five came after halftime. Preston Whitaker adeded 15 points. Santos, held to just nine points, led both teams with 17 rebounds.

UNO shot 50.9 percent for the game after a 43.8 performance the first half. The Mavs hit 15 of 25 second half shots. MSU, which shot 44.1 percent the first half, was held to 33.3 percent after halftime and 38.6 percent for the game.

This will be UNO's first trip to the NCC final game since 2004 when the Mavericks defeated South Dakota for its only previous post-season tournament championship.