DENVER, Colo. -- Denver led wire-to-wire to upend North Dakota State 67-63 Saturday, surviving a late surge by the Bison who dropped out of a first-place tie in conference.

The Pioneers (11-11, 4-3 Summit) led 62-51 when Brett Olson hit a pair of free throws with 3:59 to play. But Lawrence Alexander and Kory Brown led a comeback for the Bison (16-6, 5-2), combining for 12 points. Alexander had a spree where he put back his own miss, stole the inbounds pass, was fouled and sank a pair of free throws that sliced the lead to 64-63 with a half-minute left.

The Bison fouled Chris Udofia, who made one of two free throws, but Alexander missed down the floor and Mike Felt's follow rimmed out. Marcus Byrd hit a pair of insurance free throws for Denver with 4 seconds left.

Olson scored 19 and Udofia 16 for Denver. Alexander finished with 20 points.