Brandon Brekke scored 17 points to lead North Dakota to a 59-54 victory against North Dakota State on Tuesday night.
Aaron Anderson added 12 points and Josh Schuler 11 for North Dakota (8-9).
Marshall Bjorklund had 13 points and Mike Felt 12 for the Bison (13-5), who shot just 32.8 percent (19 of 58) from the floor.
Brekke, whose father, uncle and aunt played basketball at North Dakota, made eight of his 11 shots from the field. His free throw following a flagrant foul call put North Dakota in front for good, 53-52, with 2:14 remaining.
Patrick Mitchell scored on a put-back basket with 54 seconds to play, putting North Dakota up 55-52, a lead it protected at the free-throw line.
Mitchell scored 10 points.
The in-state rivals belong to different conferences and had not played at Grand Forks since 2004, when both schools were in Division II. The rivalry was resumed last season with a game at North Dakota State, won 81-55 by the Bison.
