SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Oral Roberts added two more double-digit road wins to its growing resume as the Golden Eagles moved to 8-0 in #SummitMBB play. The League leaders will hit the halfway point of their season Thursday when Denver visits the Mabee Center where an opponent has yet to upend ORU this season in 11 tries.

South Dakota State, the reigning regular season and tournament champs, won a pair of home games last week to move to 6-2 in League play and stay within two games of the Golden Eagles. The Jackrabbits are finding their offensive footing after drilling double-digit triples in both of those victories.

The top two teams have created some separation between themselves and the rest of the standings, but there is a pack of seven teams lurking behind that is separated by a total of two games.

Western Illinois, who has won three straight, and North Dakota State, who dropped a pair of home games last week, are both 5-4, while South Dakota and Kansas City are sitting at 4-4 following home and road splits, respectively. St. Thomas trails the Coyotes and Roos by a half-game and will look to snap a three-game skid when it plays host to South Dakota State and South Dakota this week.

Omaha and Denver are both 3-6 entering matchups at the League-leading Golden Eagles and Kansas City this week and could use some road magic to move closer to the top of the ledger.

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DENVER PIONEERS (12-10; 3-6 SL) | @DU_MensHoops
Next Up:  at Oral Roberts* (1/26; 7 p.m. CT); at Kansas City* (1/28; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games:  at South Dakota* (W, 75-60); at SDSU* (L, 76-61)
The Pioneers split a pair of 15-point contests in the Mount Rushmore State last week, winning at South Dakota before falling to SDSU ... DU continues to be one of the best shooting teams in the country, ranking seventh in overall field goal percentage (50.0) ... In the win over the Coyotes, the Pioneers shot 57.1 percent from the field (24-for-42), including a 9-for-16 effort from 3-point range ... Tevin Smith scored 20 for the second straight game in the win at USD ... Touko Tainamo and Lukas Kisunas each had 14 to pace the Pios at SDSU ... Kisunas went 7-for-11 from the field against the Jackrabbits and is shooting 68.9 percent on the season (82-for-119) ... DU remains on the road for tilts at League-leading Oral Roberts and Kansas City this week.

KANSAS CITY ROOS (8-13, 4-4 SL) | @KCRoosMBB
Next Up: Omaha* (1/26; 7 p.m. CT); Denver* (1/28; 7 p.m. CT) 
Previous Games: at North Dakota* (L, 77-60); at NDSU* (W, 75-73)
The Roos bounced back from a 17-point loss Thursday at North Dakota by hanging on for a 75-73 win at NDSU ... It marked the third straight win in the series for the Roos, who had lost five of the previous six matchups ... Shemarri Allen went for a team-high 28, while backcourt mate RayQuawndis Mitchell added 23 in the win over the Bison ... It marked the first time this season the high-scoring duo both had 20-plus in the same game ... For Allen, he reached that plateau for the sixth time while Mitchell did so for the eighth time ... Mitchell’s 22.3 ppg in League play trails only Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas (24.0 ppg), while Allen is chipping in 18.6 ppg through eight conference games, good for sixth best in the League ... The Roos will look to move above the .500 mark with home games against Omaha and Denver this week.

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (7-15; 1-8 SL) | @UNDMBasketball
Next Up: at NDSU* (1/27; 7 p.m. CT); at SDSU* (2/2; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota (2/4; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: Kansas City* (W, 77-60); Oral Roberts* (L, 84-72); at Western Illinois (L, 92-80)
The Fighting Hawks broke a program single-game record by making 18 3-pointers in a 77-60 victory over Kansas City that also snapped a six-game slide to open League play ... Freshman Treysen Eaglestaff scored a season-high 19 and accounted for five of those makes as did Matt Norman, who finished with 17 ... At the halfway point of League play, UND has attempted 252 triples (1st) and made 83 (2nd), while shooting 32.9 percent as a team (7th) ... Norman paces the team with a 43.2 percent clip and 48 makes from deep ... Freshman B.J. Omot continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 ppg overall and 11.4 ppg in League games ... Omot had a career-high 20 in a home loss to Oral Roberts last Saturday ... UND travels to in-state rival NDSU for a Friday night for its lone action this week.
 
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (8-13; 5-4 SL) | @NDSUMBB 
Next Up: North Dakota* (1/27; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota* (2/2; 7 p.m. CT); at SDSU* (2/4; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: Oral Roberts* (L, 92-69); Kansas City* (L, 75-73)
The Bison dropped back-to-back home games, falling by 23 to Oral Roberts and then narrowly losing to Kansas City by a basket to move to 5-4 in League play ... Junior Grant Nelson scored 19 of his 21 points against the Golden Eagles as NDSU poured in 47 first-half points against the League leaders ... It was a different story in the second half as the Bison managed just 22 points as a team after the break ... Andrew Nelson scored a career-high 29 points against the Roos ... Morgan went 11-for-16 from the field as NDSU shot 55.1 percent as a team ... Nelson added 15 and is averaging 18.0 ppg in League play (7th) ... The Bison close out a three-game homestand Friday when in-state foe North Dakota visits the Scheels Center.

OMAHA MAVERICKS (7-14; 3-6 SL) | @OmahaMBB 
Next Up: at Kansas City* (1/26; 7 p.m. CT); Oral Roberts* (1/28; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at SDSU* (L, 84-61); at South Dakota* (L, 84-68)   
The Mavericks will look to snap a three-game losing skid as they continue a four-game road swing through League play ... Omaha plays at Kansas City Thursday and League-leading Oral Roberts Saturday ... Sophomore Frankie Fidler had 13 to pace Omaha in a loss at SDSU, while Luke Jungers poured in a career-high 27 to lead the Mavericks in their loss at South Dakota ... Jungers played a season-high 27 minutes and went 6-for-11 from distance to post his second 20-plus point scoring game off the bench this season ... Jungers’ six made triples were a career-best ... Freshman Tony Osborn added 13, one shy of a season-high, as he reached double figures for the third time. 
  
ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (17-4; 8-0 SL) | @ORUMBB 
Next Up: Denver* (1/26; 7 p.m. CT); Omaha* (1/28; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at NDSU* (W, 92-69); at North Dakota* (W, 84-72)
The Golden Eagles pushed their winning streak to four straight with a pair of road wins at NDSU and North Dakota ... As a team, ORU shot better than 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from 3-point range in both victories and has achieved that feat in three straight games ... The Golden Eagles had only done that twice in their first 18 games ... ORU tops all teams with a 50.5 percent field goal clip in League play ... Issac McBride averaged 18.0 ppg in the wins over NDSU and North Dakota and went 8-for-10 from beyond the arc ... Max Abmas continued his recent scoring surge, averaging 24.5 ppg in ORU’s latest two wins ... Abmas now ranks fourth nationally in scoring at 22.0 ppg and leads all League players with a 24.5 ppg scoring clip in conference action ... ORU has a pair of home games coming up this week against Denver and Omaha.

ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (13-9; 4-5 SL) | @TommieMBBall
Next Up: SDSU* (1/26; 7 p.m. CT); South Dakota* (1/28; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Kansas City* (L, 81-60); at Oral Roberts* (L, 81-69); at Western Illinois* (L, 60-56)
The Tommies will look to snap a three-game skid with a return to their home court where they have won all four of its previous League games ... UST is averaging 78.5 ppg in those quartet of victories, while just 66.6 ppg in five League road losses ... Those three losses dropped UST below the .500 mark for the first time in League play this season ... The latest was a 60-56 setback to Western Illinois where freshman Andrew Rohde scored a game-high 19 points ... Rohde pushed his average in League play to 15.9 ppg, which is tops among League rookies ... He shares the team lead in conference scoring with Parker Bjorklund, who had 23 in a loss at Oral Roberts last Saturday ... The Tommies have home games lined up against SDSU and South Dakota this week. 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (9-11; 4-4 SL) | @SDCoyotesMBB 
Next Up:  at Western Illinois* (1/26; 6 p.m. CT); at St. Thomas (1/28; 7 p.m. CT) 
Previous Games: Denver* (L, 75-60); Omaha* (W, 84-68) 
The Coyotes salvaged a home split with an 18-point win over Omaha that pushed their League record back to the .500 mark at 4-4 ... In the win over the Mavericks, Kruz Perrott-Hunt led the way with 22 points and A.J. Plitzuweit added 19 points as those two combined to go 7-for-10 from deep ... The Coyotes finished 11-for-20 (55 percent) and are shooting 40.5 percent as a team from 3-point range, which is the fourth best clip in the country ... It marked the ninth time USD made double-digit triples in a game this season and are 6-3 in those contests ... Perrott-Hunt leads the team in scoring at 14.1 ppg and has scored double figures in eight straight, including the seven League games he has played in (18.9 ppg) ... USD will look to move past the .500 mark with home games against NDSU and North Dakota.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (11-9; 6-2 SL) | @GoJacksMBB 
Next Up:  at St. Thomas* (1/26; 7 p.m. CT); at Western Illinois (1/28; 2 p.m. CT)  
Previous Games: Omaha* (W, 84-61); Denver* (W, 76-61)   
The Jackrabbits moved into sole possession of second place after posting back-to-back, double-digit wins over Omaha and Denver ... Sophomore Zeke Mayo averaged 28.0 ppg and 5.0 apg in the victories and has now logged six straight games with four or more assists ... Mayo went 13-for-22 from beyond the arc in those contests and SDSU connected on double-digits as a team in back-to-back games for just the second time this season ... Freshman William Kyle III had his best stretch during League play, scoring 12 against Omaha, then adding a career-high 19 off the bench against the Pioneers ... Senior Matt Mims also contributed a season-high 14 against the Pios and is averaging 11.7 ppg over his last three contests ... SDSU travels to St. Thomas and Western Illinois for #SummitMBB road tilts this week.

WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS (12-8; 5-4 SL) | @WIU_MensHoops 
Next Up: South Dakota (1/26; 6 p.m. CT); SDSU (1/28; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Kansas City* (W, 60-52); St. Thomas* (W, 60-56); North Dakota (W, 92-80)  
The Leathernecks have won three straight to move past the .500 mark in League play at 5-4 ... The latest victory was a 92-80 triumph over North Dakota Monday that saw senior Trenton Massner break a single-game program record with 46 points ... Massner’s point total was the highest in a regulation game this season by a DI player as he finished 16-for-21 from the field and 9-for-12 from 3-point range ... Quinlan Bennett added his first double-double of the season and second of his DI career with 10 points and a season-high 13 boards against UND ...  In last Saturday’s win over St. Thomas, Massner led the way 19 points, while Jesiah West recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds ... WIU stays home to play South Dakota and SDSU this week.

#SUMMITMBB