SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A year after going 7-11 in the inaugural Big Sky-Summit Challenge, the Summit men's teams flipped the script this year and helped secure the second straight overall title for the conference.
Denver, North Dakota State and St. Thomas combined for six of the 11 wins as those programs each won their home-and-way tilts in the 36-game challenge between the men's and women's programs in the two conferences.
In fact, the Tommies are the only squad on the men's side that has reeled off four wins over the past two seasons, including the Big Sky contingent. St. Thomas picked off Northern Colorado in a road tilt to open the challenge, then outlasted Montana at home to sweep the competition for the second straight year.
Newcomer Miles Barnstable paced the Tommies with 20 against Northern Colorado, while junior Kendall Blue and freshman Nolan Minnesale both scored a career-high 22 points in the win over the Grizzlies.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• St. Thomas freshman Nolan Minnesale averaged 20.0 ppg in the Tommies’ two victories as he reached double-digits in scoring in back-to-back games for the first time.
• NDSU pushed its overall winning streak to a season-best four with a road win at Weber State and home win over Northern Colorado.
• Jacksen Moni scored a game-high 22 points against the Wildcats and added a team-high 18 against the Bears. He’s averaging 24.0 ppg over his last three games and earned his first Peak Performer of the Week honor for his efforts in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.
• Denver snapped a four-game losing streak by picking up back-to-back wins in the challenge. After cruising to a 21-point home win, the Pios rallied for a 68-67 win at Portland State to secure their first road tally of the season.
• DU freshman Sebastian Akins led all scorers with a season-high 22 points in the 80-59 win over Sacramento State. He now has seven double-digit scoring games to his credit.
• Isaiah Addo-Ankrah made a career-high seven triples in the win over the Vikings, finishing with a season-high 21 points.
• South Dakota ranks 11th nationally in scoring offense at 87.3 ppg and their bench provides 39.7 ppg of that output, which is fifth most nationally. Reserve guard Issac Bruns leads all Coyotes in scoring at 14.0 ppg.
• USD newcomer Chase Forte, who is scoring 13.7 ppg, also has a league-best 24 steals, including a season-high five in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge win over Idaho State.
• SDSU center Oscar Cluff sat out the 71-67 loss to Montana but returned to post his eighth double-double in the Jacks’ home win over Eastern Washington. Cluff shares the national lead in the category after finishing with game-highs in points (19) and rebounds (11).
•Freshman Damon Wilkinson scored a season-high 14 points against the Grizzlies after netting that many combined in his first four collegiate games.
• KC’s Jamar Brown returned to action after missing three games and scored 17 off the bench against Idaho and eight in his return to the starting lineup at Montana State.
• Graduate student Anderson Kopp had a four-game run of averaging 21.8 ppg but did not play against the Bobcats.
• North Dakota split a pair of tightly-contested tilts in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge, falling by six at Eastern Washington before posting a five-point win over Weber State.
• Against EWU, Amar Kuljuhovic equaled his season-high with 17 points and pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds.
• Mier Panoam scored a career-high 22 points in the win over Weber with George Natsvishvili recording his first career double-double off the bench with 12 points and 10 boards.
• Omaha also split a pair of games in the challenge with Marquel Sutton opening with 22 points and seven rebounds in a loss at Montana State and he added 23 points and eight boards in the home win over Sacramento State.
• Sutton currently ranks third in the league in scoring at 17.2 ppg and is second in rebounding at 7.4/g.
• Oral Roberts’ Issac McBride scored a season-high 28 in the Golden Eagles’ home win over Northern Arizona and had 17 in the loss at Idaho State.
UPCOMING
Date | Stream/TV Local Time
Tuesday, Dec. 10
North Dakota State at Butler | FS1 | 6:30 p.m.
Wyoming at South Dakota | MS/SLN | 7 p.m.
UCCS at Denver | SLN | 7 p.m.
Kansas City at Portland | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 11
North Dakota at Utah Valley | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
SDSU at Nevada | MWN | 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 13
Wisconsin-Stout at NDSU | WDAYX/SLN | 7 p.m.
North Dakota at UTSA | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
Omaha at Northern Iowa | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
SDSU at Colorado | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
Western Michigan at St. Thomas | FOX9+/SLN | 8 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 14
Western Illinois at South Dakota | SLN | 11 a.m.
Bowling Green at Kansas City | SLN | 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 15
Omaha at Iowa State | CBSSN | 12 p.m.
Western Michigan at NDSU | WDAYX/SLN | 1 p.m.
UTSA at North Dakota | SLN | 2 p.m.
Crown at St. Thomas | SLN | 2 p.m.
Denver at Cal State Fullerton | ESPN+ | 2 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 16
Oral Roberts at Texas Tech | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
Rankings: (AP/Coaches) | * Summit League game
Key: ACCN (ACC Network); BTN (Big Ten Network); CBSSN (CBS Sports Network); ESPN + (ESPN Plus); FLO (FLO Sports); FS2 (Fox Sports); MS (Midco Sports); MWN (Mountain West Network); PEA (Peacock); SLN (Summit League Network)
RESULTS
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Oral Roberts 83, Northern Arizona 76
Idaho 82, Kansas City 77 (road win)
South Dakota 94, Idaho State 80
St. Thomas 87, Northern Colorado 75 (road win)
Montana State 76, Omaha 65 (road win)
North Dakota State 77, Weber State (road win)
Montana 71, South Dakota State 67
Eastern Washington 87, North Dakota 81
Denver 80, Sacramento State 59
Saturday, Dec. 7
Northern Arizona 95, South Dakota 82
St. Thomas 88, Montana 81
Omaha 70, Sacramento State 60 (road win)
Denver 68, Portland State 67 (road win)
South Dakota State 74, Eastern Washington 53
Idaho State 71, Oral Roberts 55
North Dakota 80, Weber State 75
North Dakota State 82, Northern Colorado 70
Montana State 74, Kansas City 62
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