FARGO, N.D. - The Leathernecks defeated the Bison of North Dakota State Saturday (Feb. 25) 77-64 behind an explosive performance from junior forward Terell Parks who finished with a career-high 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds on his way to his league-best seventh double-double of the season.

The Leathernecks move to 15-13 overall and finish 9-9 in The Summit League with the win, while the Bison finish the regular season with a 17-12 overall mark and a 9-9 league mark.

"Terell (Parks) had a tremendous night," said head coach Jim Molinari. "North Dakota State is extremely well coached and quite frankly, tonight we could have beaten most teams because we shot the ball well. We had our best night and they didn't have their best night. It was a good victory for us, and one that we needed."

Western has one game left and whether they win or lose they will finish the season with a winning record for the first time since the 1998-99 season when the Leathernecks finished 16-12. Western's nine conference victories are the most earned since the 1998-99 season (9-5).

With the victory and a Southern Utah loss against Oral Roberts, the Leathernecks clinched the fourth seed in next weekend's Summit League Tournament, and will face North Dakota State who earned the fifth seed Sunday, March 4th at 6 p.m.

Senior guards Ceola Clark III (18) and Tommie Tyler (12) also finished in double figures for the Leathernecks. Besides his 25 points and 12 rebounds, Parks also had five assists, three blocks, and a steal.

The Leathernecks shot 54.9% from the field to the Bison's 47.2%, and for the 13th time this season Western committed 10 or less turnovers (9).

NDSU was led by Mike Felt who finished with 18 points.

Parks won the tip for Western and scored the game's opening bucket to get things started, but the Bison would answer with an 8-0 run to take the lead early on.

Five straight from Tyler would cut the Leathernecks deficit to one, 8-7, at the first media timeout of the first.

Western fell behind 23-15 midway through the first, but a nice 7-2 run from the Leathernecks allowed them to crawl back within striking distance, 25-22 with 6 minutes remaining before break. Parks knotted things up at 25 with a tough three-point play, finishing the two-handed slam and making the free throw after being fouled.

Western outscored NDSU 12-6 in final 6 minutes of the first half and took a 37-31 lead into halftime. The run was highlighted by a couple three-pointers from Clark and Tyler, as well as a pair of thunderous slam dunk alley-oops from Clark to Parks, one of which came as time expired.

Parks finished the first with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal.

Junior forward Jack Houpt drained a triple to open the second half, followed by a short jumper from Parks in the paint, giving Western an 11-point advantage early in the second period.

Western would build its lead up to as large as 17 (1:25 left in the second), and never give up its lead in the second. The closest the Bison would get was eight on five different occasions as Parks and the Leathernecks finished off the Bison, 77-64.

Western finishes the regular season at home next Wednesday playing host to future Summit League members Nebraska Omaha at 7 p.m.