SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The top of the Summit League standings tightened up last week after Omaha dropped back-to-back road games to the teams that were in second and third place, respectively in the standings. The latter of those two setbacks was in St. Paul Saturday where the Tommies took over sole possession of first place with a 95-84 victory over the Mavericks.
Omaha dropped down to second, while SDSU strengthened its third-place positioning and now trail the Tommies by just a game and the Mavericks by a half-game. The Jackrabbits play host to North Dakota State Wednesday, while St. Thomas visits South Dakota in a rematch of the highest-scoring Summit game of the season -- a 119-104 victory by the Tommies.
The Mavericks will look to salvage the final game on their three-game road swing Wednesday at Kansas City before returning home for the final two games of the regular season.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• SDSU senior Oscar Cluff registered a pair of 20-point, 15-rebound and 5-assist outings on the stat sheet last week in wins over Omaha and South Dakota. He earned his league-best fifth Kwik Star weekly award.
• Cluff leads all DI players with seven 20-point, 15-rebound games and has 15-plus rebounds in eight Summit League tilts this season. He has nine overall.
• The two wins helped compact the top of the standings where the top three teams are now separated by just one game entering the final two weeks of play.
• St. Thomas was the first Summit League team to the 20-win threshold this season after knocking off Omaha 95-84 Saturday in a battle for first place.
• The Tommies now lead the Mavericks by a half-game and the Jacks by a full game.
• Since collecting the first 20-point game of his career in a 102-86 loss at SDSU, St. Thomas’ Drake Dobbs has hit that plateau two more times, this time in back-to-back wins by the Tommies. He is averaging 22.3 ppg over those three.
• Dobbs matched his career-high with 23 in the home win over the Mavericks as the Tommies prep for road games at South Dakota and Oral Roberts this week.
• St. Thomas and SDSU are now 12-0 at home this season and both teams share the longest active home court winning streak at 16 with St. John’s.
• There had been 48 Summit League games before North Dakota State and Oral Roberts played in the first overtime affair of conference play this season. The Bison held on for a 94-88 victory in that contest before winning yet again in overtime their next time out -- an 89-84 victory over Denver.
• The two home wins vaulted NDSU back into fourth place in the league standings with a road tilt at SDSU up first this week Wednesday in Brookings before traveling to in-state rival North Dakota Saturday.
• Senior Jacksen Moni averaged 29.5 ppg in those two OT victories and moved into the top 10 in scoring among Division I players, pushing his overall scoring clip to ninth-best nationally at 20.6 ppg. He has 13 20-plus games on the year.
• Moni forced the extra session with a game-tying basket with three seconds remaining against ORU, then had nine of his 32 in bonus time. The Northern State transfer added 27 in the win over DU and now has 2,000-plus points during his collegiate career.
• South Dakota shifted back into fifth place in the standings after seeing a late rally fall just short in a 94-91 home loss to the Jackrabbits.
• The Coyotes got 21 points from Issac Bruns, who is the top scoring underclassmen in the Summit League, averaging 14.9 ppg overall and 17.0 ppg in conference play.
• USD has also gotten a scoring boost from Dre Bullock of late as the Niagara transfer put up 20 against the Jacks and is averaging 21.2 ppg since moving into the starting lineup five games ago. He had 26 in USD’s win over Kansas City.
• North Dakota remains in sixth place after splitting a pair of home games last week, falling to Denver 68-64 before bouncing back with an 88-77 win over Oral Roberts.
• Junior Treysen Eaglestaff has three straight 20-plus point games and ranks third overall in scoring 18.8 ppg and shares fifth in league play at 17.2 ppg.
• The Roos fell short in their lone action of the week, dropping a 79-72 tilt at South Dakota. Sophomore Jayson Petty broke out of a scoring slump to lead the way with 21 points. He had amassed just 21 total points in KC’s last five contests.
• At 3-9 in league play, the preseason favorites play two of the league’s top three teams this week with a home game vs. Omaha Wednesday and a road contest at SDSU on Sunday in a game to be televised nationally on CBSSN.
• KC’s last eight Summit losses have all been by single digits.
• Denver picked up a split on the road and is only a half-game behind the Roos for seventh as the Pioneers look to avoid the 8/9 play-in game.
• Junior center Isaiah Carr returned to action for the first time in nearly two months (Nov. 24 vs. Montana), playing five minutes off the bench in a win at North Dakota before logging 25 minutes, scoring 10 points and pulling down five rebounds in the 89-84 overtime loss at NDSU.
• Freshman Sebastian Akins poured in a career-high 27 to pace the Pios against the Bison as he started for the third straight game. He’s averaging 15.6 ppg in seven starts on the season.
• Senior Issac McBride continued his torrid scoring pace but ORU came up empty in two road games last week. McBride averaged 31.5 ppg, scoring 34 in OT at NDSU and 29 vs. UND. He has his season average up to 19.8 ppg.
UPCOMING
Date | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Feb. 19
Omaha at Kansas City* | SLN | 7 p.m.
NDSU at SDSU* | MS1/SLN | 7 p.m.
St. Thomas at South Dakota* | MS2/SLN | 7 p.m.
Oral Roberts at Denver* | ALT2/SLN | 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 22
NDSU at North Dakota* | MS1/SLN | 1 p.m.
South Dakota at Omaha* | SLN | 7 p.m.
St. Thomas at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 23
Kansas City at SDSU* | CBSSN | 1 p.m.
Rankings: (AP/Coaches) | * Summit League game
Key: ALT2 (Altitude TV); CBSSN (CBS College Sports Network); FOX9+ (Fox 9 Plus); MS1/MS2 (Midco Sports); SLN (Summit League Network); WDAYX (WDAY Extra)
RESULTS
Thursday, Feb. 13
South Dakota 79, Kansas City 72*
SDSU 98, Omaha 85*
Denver 68, North Dakota 64*
NDSU 94, Oral Roberts 88 (OT)*
Saturday, Feb. 15
North Dakota 88, Oral Roberts 77*
NDSU 89, Denver 84 (OT)*
St. Thomas 95, Omaha 84*
Sunday, Feb. 16
SDSU 94, South Dakota 91*
*Summit League game
#SUMMITMBB
