SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Defending regular season and tournament champion South Dakota State moved into sole possession of second place in the Summit League standings last week with a pair of high-scoring triumphs over North Dakota and North Dakota State. The Jackrabbits have a home date with in-state foe South Dakota as they look for win No. 10 of League play.

League-leading Oral Roberts has 3.5-game lead on SDSU with road tilts looming at the two teams trailing the Jackrabbits -- St. Thomas (7-6; 4th) and Western Illinois (8-5; 3rd). The Golden Eagle could secure at least a share of the program's first regular season title since 2011-12 by winning both or winning one coupled with a SDSU loss to the Coyotes.

South Dakota is just two games behind the Leathernecks, while Kansas City (6-6; 5th) and NDSU (6-6; 5th) are a game behind. The Roos make the same road swing as ORU does, while the Bison and Fighting Hawks (2-10; 10th) have home tilts with Omaha (3-10; 9th) and Denver (4-9; 8th) as the jockeying for seeding at next month's Basketball Championship continues in earnest across the League. 

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DENVER PIONEERS (13-13; 4-9 SL) | @DU_MensHoops
Next Up:  at North Dakota* (2/9, 7 p.m. CT); at NDSU* (2/11, 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games:  Western Illinois* (W, 74-44); St. Thomas* (L, 68-57)
The Pioneers split a pair of home games and enter their road trip to the Peace Garden State with a 4-9 mark in League play ... After posting a 74-44 victory over Western Illinois, DU fell by 11 to St. Thomas ... The 44 points were the fewest allowed since DU surrendered 33 in a win over Santa Clara in 2015 (Nov. 14) ... Tommy Bruner averaged 20.5 ppg in the home split and continues to pace the Pios in scoring at 16.8 ppg overall and upping that to 18.2 ppg in League play ... He had 23 in the loss to the Tommies, whic was his eighth 20-plus point game of the season and fourth in conference action ... Denver has held the rebounding advantage or been even on the glass with all of its League opponents except one (NDSU; -2 on Jan. 12). 

KANSAS CITY ROOS (10-15, 6-6 SL) | @KCRoosMBB
Next Up: at Western Illinois* (2/9, 6 p.m. CT); at St. Thomas* (2/11, 7 p.m. CT) 
Previous Games: SDSU (L, 67-66); Oral Roberts (L, 85-57) 
The Roos return to the road for a pair of League tilts at Western Illinois and St. Thomas this week ... Kansas City split with those two squads at home earlier in the season, falling to the Leathernecks by eight (60-52) and beating St. Thomas by 21 (81-60) ... The Roos will look to bounce back from a 85-57 loss to League-leading Oral Roberts that dropped them back to 6-6 in conference play ... Shemarri Allen scored a team-high 16 against the Golden Eagles, but KC managed to shoot just 31.7 percent from the floor ... RayQuawndis Mitchell added 11 as both he and Allen have reached double figures in all 12 of the Roos’ conference game ... Both players are averaging 19.3 ppg in League play (tied for fifth).

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (8-17; 2-10 SL) | @UNDMBasketball
Next Up: Denver* (2/9, 7 p.m. CT); Omaha* (2/11, 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at SDSU* (L, 96-73); at South Dakota* (W, 86-72) 
The Fighting Hawks snapped a four-game skid with an 86-72 victory over South Dakota ... Junior Matt Norman returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in UND’s first 11 League games of the season ... Norman scored a game-high 21 points on a 6-of-9 effort from beyond the arc ... It marked the second time in three games he connected on six triples and he now paces all League players with a 45.6 percent clip from distance in all games and a 46.7 percent clip in conference play ... Norman has reached double figures in nine straight games and is averaging a team-best 16.9 ppg during that stretch ... Freshman B.J. Omot had back-to-back 17-point games in the Rushmore State and added a career-high five blocks against the Coyotes ... UND will entertain Denver and Omaha at this week.
 
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON ( 9-15; 6-6 SL) | @NDSUMBB 
Next Up: Omaha* (2/9, 7 p.m. CT); Denver* (2/11, 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at South Dakota* (L, 71-62); at SDSU* (L, 90-85)
The Bison dropped a pair of tilts  to South Dakota and SDSU to fall back to .500 in League play at 6-6 ... NDSU will look to rebound with home games against Omaha and Denver this week at the Scheels Center ... Junior Grant Nelson registered back-to-back double-doubles in those two losses to push his season total to five that category ... He went for 13 points and 13 rebounds against the Coyote and added 27 points and 15 rebounds against the Jackrabbits ... Nelson is shooting a League-best 53.4 percent from the field and took over the top spot on the rebounding charts in both overall games (8.4/g) and League games (9.3/g) ... Jacari White came off the bench for the first time in nine games at SDSU and equaled his season-best output in League play with 18 points.

OMAHA MAVERICKS (7-18; 3-10 SL) | @OmahaMBB 
Next Up: at NDSU* (2/9, 7 p.m. CT); at North Dakota* (2/11, 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: St. Thomas* (L, 89-83); Western Illinois* (L, 75-72)   
The Mavericks saw their season-long losing skid reach seven with a pair of single-digit home losses to St. Thomas and Western Illinois ... Frankie Filder scored a season-high 33 points in the loss to the Tommies, finishing 12-for-18 from the field ... Sophomore Akol Arop added a career-high 13 off the bench against UST ... Omaha let a 12-point halftime lead slip away in a three-point loss to the Leathernecks ... JJ White led the Mavericks with 16 points in that contest, going 6-for-10 from the floor and adding four assists ... Fidler dished out five assists and scored 12 points ... He has reached double figures in 12 of 13 League games and ranks 11th among League players with a 15.9 ppg clip in conference play ... The Mavericks will look to get back in the win column with road tilts at NDSU and North Dakota this week.

ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (21-4; 12-0 SL) | @ORUMBB 
Next Up: at St. Thomas* (2/9, 7 p.m. CT); at Western Illinois* (2/11, 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: South Dakota* (W, 103-53); at Kansas City* (W, 75-57) 
The Golden Eagles moved up to No. 37 in the NET rankings Wednesday, which is the highest a Summit League team had ever reached ... ORU knocked off Kansas City on the road, 85-57, to improve to 5-0 in League road games and 12-0 overall for the first time since the 2011-12 season ... Senior Max Abmas made a quarter of 3-pointers against the Roos to push his career total to 389 and move within three of becoming the League’s all-time leader in makes from beyond the arc ... Abmas was also named one of 10 finalists Monday for the Bob Cousy Award, which is  given annually to the best point guard in Division I basketball ... The Golden Eagles have won their last four League games by an average of 32.0 ppg and are averaging 92.3 ppg in those wins ... ORU travels to the third (Western Illinois; Sat.) and fourth-place (St. Thomas; Thur.) teams in the standings this week.

ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (16-10; 7-6 SL) | @TommieMBBall
Next Up: Oral Roberts* (2/9, 7 p.m. CT); Kansas City* (2/11; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Omaha* (W, 89-83); at Denver* (W, 68-57)
The Tommies moved back over the .500 mark in Summit League play and into fourth place thanks to the program’s first two conference road wins of the season ... After starting 0-5 away from Schoenecker in League action, St. Thomas picked up victories at Omaha (by six) and Denver (by 11) last week ... Freshman Andrew Rohde averaged 17.5 ppg in the two wins, including his sixth 20-plus point outing against the Mavericks ... Rohde ranks sixth among Division I freshman in scoring at 15.6 ppg and is scoring at a 16.8 ppg clip in League play ...  Graduate student Parker Bjorklund is right behind Rohde in terms of League scoring at 16.1 ppg as those are one of only two duos to rank among the League’s top 10 scorers in #SummitMBB play ... UST returns to Schoenecker where it owns a 10-1 record to face League-leading ORU and Kansas City this week.

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (11-14; 6-7 SL) | @SDCoyotesMBB 
Next Up:  at SDSU* (2/11, 6 p.m. CT); at Omaha* (2/16, 7 p.m. CT); at Denver* (2/18, 3 p.m. MT) 
Previous Games: North Dakota State* (W, 71-62); North Dakota* (L, 86-72)
The Coyotes split a pair of home games last week, defeating NDSU by nine before falling to UND by 14 ... Junior Tasos Kamateros had the best two-game scoring stretch of his season, averaging 19.5 ppg during the two-game homestand ... He scored a season-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor in the win over the Bison and added 16 against the Fighting Hawks ... Kamateros is averaging 12.3 ppg, which ranks second among the Coyotes and has upped that to 14.2 ppg in League play ... USD is among a pack of five teams making up the third-seventh positions in the standings that are separated by two games ... USD travels to in-state rival SDSU Saturday looking to avenge a home loss to the Jacks (82-64; Jan. 14).

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (14-11; 9-4 SL) | @GoJacksMBB 
Next Up: South Dakota* (2/11; 6 p.m. CT); at Denver* (2/16; 7 p.m. MT); at Omaha* (2/18; 7 p.m. CT)   
Previous Games: North Dakota* (W, 96-73); North Dakota State* (W, 90-85)   
The Jackrabbits moved into sole possession of second place after averaging 93.0 ppg in a pair of League wins over North Dakota and NDSU at Frost Arena last week ... SDSU will cap its three-game homestand against in-state foe South Dakota Saturday ... Sophomore Zeke Mayo was the third different Summit League player and second in as many weeks (Trenton Massner, WIU) to be named the CollegeInsider.com Lou Henson Mid-Major National Player of the Week ... It marks the first time in League history three different players earned that accolade in the same season ... Mayo scored a career-high 41 in the victory over NDSU and ranks 11th among sophomores in Division I, averaging 18.1 ppg ... His scoring surge last week pushed his Summit League-only average to 21.7 ppg (second best).   

WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS (15-9; 8-5 SL) | @WIU_MensHoops 
Next Up: Kansas City* (2/9, 6 p.m. CT); Oral Roberts* (2/11, 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Denver* (L, 74-44); at Omaha* (W, 75-72)  
The Leathernecks had a five-game winning streak snapped at Denver, but bounced back to start a possible new one after avenging a four-point home loss to Omaha by beating the Mavericks by three on their home court ... Senior Trenton Massner and Quinlan Bennett each scored nine points as WIU managed just 44 in the loss the Pios, but the offense responded with a 75-point outing vs. the Mavericks ... Massner scored a game-high 28 points and over his last five games is averaging 27.2 ppg as the Leathernecks enter a two-game homestand this week against Kansas City  and Oral Roberts in third place in the League standings ... Vuk Stevanic chipped in 18 and averaged 19.5 ppg in the two regular season meetings with Omaha.   

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