The Basics
Score: No. 1 Oral Roberts 92, No. 3 North Dakota State 58
Records: Oral Roberts (30-5, 18-0 SL), North Dakota State (16-17; 11-7 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Golden Eagles didn’t leave any doubt. No. 1 Oral Roberts blew past No. 3 North Dakota State, 92-58, to cap off an undefeated run through conference opponents and win their second Summit League Tournament Championship in the past three years.
With the win, Paul Mills’ team is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time, and return just two years after reaching the Sweet 16 in 2021.
The resounding victory also made ORU just the second team in Summit League history to reach the 30-win mark.
“The goal was a championship and we didn’t lose any and that came with it. That’s a testament to all the hard work we put in. All the practices, all the sprints,” ORU senior guard Max Abmas said.
The Golden Eagles were led by Abmas, who scored 26 points and tied a career high with 11 assists. The ORU icon was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the second time, and was joined on the all-tournament team by Connor Vanover (10 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks).
It was, however, a less obvious player that set the Golden Eagles on their way.
Patrick Mwamba was the offensive catalyst off the bench for ORU in the game’s early stages. The junior scored a season-high 17 points in the first half while helping the Golden Eagles build a commanding lead before five minutes had ticked off the clock.
One early sequence was particularly telling.
Kareem Thompson grabbed an offensive rebound on the baseline just before the under 16 media timeout and kicked it out to Abmas, who swung the ball to Isaac McBride who knocked in a corner three. This forced an NDSU timeout, but Vanover rejected a Joshua Streit shot on the ensuing Bison possession. Mwamba would then drill a three to give ORU an 18-3 lead.
The Golden Eagle momentum would only grow from there. The regular season champions entered halftime with a 51-20 lead, holding the Bison to just 7-26 shooting from the floor in the first half.
“I feel like they just punched us in the face and we weren’t ready for it,” said Bison junior guard Boden Skunberg.
NDSU was unable to dominate the interior like it had in beating South Dakota State in the semifinals. Vanover was a presence in the paint throughout the game, and helped ORU jump out to a 14-5 advantage on the glass. Bison head coach Dave Richman also credited Thompson’s physical defense for helping hold all-tournament team honoree Grant Nelson to nine points on 3-8 shooting.
“You saw a really hungry group, a really mature group,” Richman said of ORU after the game.
The Golden Eagles now head back to Tulsa and await their seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Turning Point
Mwamba put an exclamation point on his explosive first half by hitting a three pointer just before the buzzer sounded. This sent an already dominant Golden Eagles team to the momentum with an extra dose of momentum.
All-Tournament Team
Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas
Grant Nelson, North Dakota State
Boden Skunberg, North Dakota State
Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts
Max Abmas, Oral Roberts (MVP)
Inside the Box Score
- ORU notched its fourth victory against a league opponent by at least 34 points.
- Mwamba’s 20-point effort was a season high and included four three pointers, the first time he hit that many shots from distance in a game in his career.
- Vanover’s six blocks were the third highest mark in a league tournament game, a distinction he shares with three other players and he moved into fifth place on the Summit League's single-season charts, pushing his 2022-23 total to 107.
- Skunberg, an all-tournament team honoree, led the Bison with 18 points, his ninth game in a row hitting double figure scoring.
News & Notes
- The Golden Eagles would enter the NCAA Tournament with sole possession of the nation’s longest active winning streak should MAC regular season champion Toledo not reach the MAC Tournament final. The Rockets carry a 15-game winning streak into their quarterfinal matchup with Miami Ohio on Thursday.
- This was the fifth straight title-game appearance for NDSU, who won it all in 2019 and 2020 during that stretch.
- Per KenPom.com, only 17 teams had less Division I experience than the Bison this season. The young Bison finished third in the conference and closed the regular season winning five of their last six games.
#SUMMITMBB
