The Basics
Score: No. 1 Oral Roberts 70, No. 5 St. Thomas 65
Records: Oral Roberts (29-4, 18-0 SL), St. Thomas (19-14; 9-9 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The perfect season lives on, as No. 1 Oral Roberts inched past No. 5 St. Thomas, 70-65, to claim a spot in the Summit League Tournament championship. Max Abmas led the way for the Golden Eagles with 23 points, passing fellow ORU legend Caleb Green to become the second all-time leading scorer in League history with 2,523 career points.
Connor Vanover had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in the winning effort, while Isaac McBride chipped in 14 points.
“We understand what it takes to win, we understand the task at hand,” Abmas said.
The dominant Golden Eagles found themselves in unfamiliar territory down the stretch.
ORU trailed by one point (33-32) at the half, the first time the Golden Eagles had gone into the locker room without a lead since Jan. 21. The regular season champions would respond out of the break, retaking the lead at 44-43 as Vanover finished off a lob dunk out of a timeout with 11:43 left. An Abmas three with just over seven minutes left pushed the lead to 56-48, the largest of the game to that point.
But UST would claw back in its tournament debut.
Parker Bjorklund (15 points) hit a three following an Abmas miss to draw the Tommies within three points at 60-57 with just under two minutes left. That drew the large crowd at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center to its feet, but McBride hit a driving runner at the end of the shot clock on the next possession to quell the UST momentum.
The Tommies were led by Andrew Rohde (23 points). Brooks Allen, one of three players in the Tommies’ starting lineup to start their career in Division III, was especially pivotal out of the gates. The senior hit three three’s in the first half and scored 17 points on 5-7 shooting from distance on the night.
Neither offense was able to get fully unleashed on Monday night, as the Golden Eagles finished with their second lowest scoring total of the league season.
“These two guys really helped get us over the hump tonight,” ORU head coach Paul Mills said of Abmas and Vanover after the game.
The Golden Eagles advance to their first Summit League Tournament final since 2021 and will face the winner of South Dakota State and North Dakota State on Monday night at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
Turning Point
Abmas’ three just after the under eight media timeout in the second half seemed to put the game out of reach for the Tommies. But UST did not quit, and forced the Golden Eagles into a pressure possession with just over a minute left. McBride would hit a runner in the lane and send ORU on its way to the final.
Inside the Box Score
- Vanover recorded his sixth double-double of the season, the most among Golden Eagle players.
- Rohde scored 20 points or more for the fifth straight game.
- Despite Vanover’s big night on the boards the teams were even on the glass, with each pulling down 44 rebounds.
- The team featured six ties and six lead changes, with neither team leading by more than 10 points.
News & Notes
- Oral Roberts now has sole possession of the nation’s longest active winning streak (16 games). The Golden Eagles entered the game tied with Toledo, which puts its own 15-game winning streak on the line when it opens play in the MAC Tournament on Thursday.
- The Tommies wrap up their second year in Division I just one win shy of a 20-win season while having made the semifinals of the league tournament in their first trip to Sioux Falls.
#SUMMITMBB
