It's official.

By defeating the University of Nebraska-Omaha 69-64 on Thursday night at Romano Gymnasium, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team will host a North Central Conference Tournament game next Wednesday (Feb. 28) -- the opposition will be determined this Saturday.

Winners of five straight, the Bulldogs (14-12 overall, 5-6 in the NCC) trailed the Mavericks (12-14, 3-8 NCC) 30-28 at halftime and faced a 10-point 42-32 deficit with 17:18 left in regulation play. A errorless final 20 minutes of play helped UMD close the gap and eventually take the lead for good after two Bryan Foss free throws fell through the net to make the score 54-53 at the 7:34 mark. For the game, the Bulldogs turned the ball over a season-low six times while Nebraska-Omaha had nine miscues.

Matt Hockett, a senior forward from McFarland, Wis., came off the bench and posted a career-high 17 points for the Bulldogs, who improved to 2-9 when trailing at the break (1-5 during NCC action). Hockett, who has averaged 13.7 points per game over his last three outings, sunk a pair of 3-pointers and finished up going 7-of-11 from the field. UMD junior shooting guard Jordan Nuness pitched in 14 points and fellow junior teammate John Vaudreuil added 11 points to boot. In addition, the Bulldogs' bench players wound up outscoring the visiting reserves 28-10 for the contest.

Foss, the reigning NCC Player of the Week, tallied a season-low nine points when he faced the Maverick defensive unit earlier this year on Jan. 13. This time around, the senior swingman from Plymouth, Minn., was held scoreless in the first half for the first time in 2006-07. However, in the second stanza, he scored 10 points and also managed to pull down 11 total rebounds en route to securing his league-leading seventh double-double of the season.

Zac Robinson bucketed a game-high 20 points for the Mavericks, who lost the rebounding battle 38-25 which means the Bulldogs have now out-rebounded their opponents during each of the last eight games. UNO's Michael Jenkins contributed 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting. The Mavericks shot 49 percent from the field but converted on just 5-of-8 free throw attempts while UMD fired 41.1 percent and was 17-of-20 from the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs will face the University of North Dakota (11-15, 3-8 NCC) on Saturday (Feb. 24) at Romano Gym. Prior to the opening tap of the 2006-07 regular season finale set for 3 p.m., the Bulldogs will pay homage to their four senior classmen -- Ryan Breidenbach, Matt Rawley, Hockett and Foss -- with a short ceremony commemorating their contributions to the UMD basketball program. Back on Feb. 10 in Grand Forks, N.D., the Bulldogs beat the Fighting Sioux 73-68.

CURRENT NCC STANDINGS:

1. Minnesota State-Mankato (23-3, 9-2 NCC)

2. South Dakota (20-6, 9-2 NCC)

3. St. Cloud State (18-8, 7-4 NCC)

4. Minnesota Duluth (14-12, 5-6 NCC)

T5. Nebraska-Omaha (12-14, 3-8 NCC)

T5. North Dakota (11-15, 3-8 NCC)

7. Augustana (16-11, 3-9 NCC)

Note: No. 1 team gets a first-round bye in NCC Tournament