FARGO, N.D. – The Mavericks cut the Bison lead to two after four straight points from Dylan Brougham with under a minute to play, but NDSU capitalized from the foul line down the stretch to take a 71-64 win over Omaha Thursday night.
 
The Mavericks fall to 4-19 overall and 3-9 in Summit League action.
 
Leaders for Omaha
Felix Lemetti scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-13 from the field. He finished 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Darrius Hughes added 12 off the bench, while Brougham reached double-figures for the second consecutive game with 10 points.
 
Frankie Fidler grabbed a team-high six boards, while Sam'i Roe matched his personal best five rebounds. Lemetti tallied five assists, and Akol Arop nabbed a career-high four steals.
 
Leaders for North Dakota State
Sam Griesel led the Bison with 17 points on 5-of-7 from the field. He finished 7-of-12 at the charity stripe. Tyree Eady added 15 points, while Boden Skunberg and Jarius Cook each scored 11 points.
 
Griesel was just shy of a double-double with nine boards. Nelson Grant tallied a game-high two blocks.
 
Team Stats
The Mavericks shot 45.6 percent from the field and 60 percent from long range Thursday night. The Bison connected on just a few more from the field finishing 46.9 percent of their attempts.
 
Omaha led in points in the paint (30-28) and bench points (19-10).
 
Inside the First Half
The Mavericks hit the ground running with a 6-3 run out of the gates. Brougham led Omaha with four of those points, while Fidler added two on a jumper in the paint. The Bison used back-to-back jumpers from Cook and Eady to take a one-point edge at the 18:05 mark, while Marco Smith connected from deep on Omaha's next possession to regain the lead. Over the next two minutes, NDSU scored six consecutive points to swing the momentum away from the Mavericks.
 
At the 10:09 mark, a three-pointer from Eady would give NDSU its largest lead of the half at 12, and the Bison led by as much as 10 with under three minutes left in the half. Hughes battled in the paint an grabbed his own offensive board for a put back cutting the lead to eight with 1:57 on the clock. Lemetti then closed the half with five straight points, including a three to beat the shot clock. Mavericks trailed, 37-34, at the break.
 
Inside the Second Half
Lemetti continued the Omaha run with a jumper from the top of the key to open the second which got Omaha within one of NDSU for the first of three times in the half. Cook and Lemetti then traded threes on the next two possessions, but Cook would hit from deep again at the 17:52 to keep the lead at four.
 
At the 9:04 mark, Lemetti made his third three on the night to cut the NDSU lead once again to one, but the Bison used free throws to pad their lead back to six with just over six minutes on the clock. Omaha failed to find the basket for nearly five and a half minutes late in the second allowing Griesel to grow the Bison lead back up to eight points, but a pair of free throws from Arop snapped the scoreless stretch. Brougham scored four straight Maverick points with under a minute to play bringing Omaha within two, but six straight Bison free throws to close the game sealed a 71-64 win for NDSU.
 
Noting Tonight's Game
-Thursday marks the 13^th time this season Omaha has had at least three players score double-figures.
-Lemetti scored a team and game-high 17 points. It marks the sixth time this season the guard has led Omaha's offense.
-Roe's five rebounds marks a career-high.
-Arop's four steals is a personal best.
 
Up Next
The Mavericks continue their North Dakota trip Saturday with the Fighting Hawks. Omaha and North Dakota tipoff at 1 p.m. as the Mavericks look to sweep the regular season series.
 
Gary Sharp will have the call on 1180 KZOT. Links to the stream, audio, and live stats can be found on OMavs.com.