SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Summit League’s Peace Garden State squads started conference play with back-to-back wins as both North Dakota and North Dakota State went unblemished during the opening week of play.

The Fighting Hawks and Bison each coupled a double-digit victory with an overtime win to get off to a fast start in Summit action. For UND, it’s the program’s first 2-0 Summit start since 2019-20.

Preseason favorite St. Thomas held off a pesky Denver squad in a high-scoring affair to get into the win column with a 92-88 triumph following its only clash of the opening week, while the Pioneers, South Dakota State and Kansas City each split their two contests. The Roos were the only Summit squad to pick up a road win, taking down defending champion Omaha, who along with Oral Roberts opened league play with back-to-back losses.

South Dakota dropped its only contest at NDSU and will look to secure its first win Wednesday against the Tommies.

All eight games this week will be streamed on the Summit League Network.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
• North Dakota is 2-0 in Summit play for the first time since the 2019-20 season thanks to a 72-61 win over Oral Roberts and a 90-87 overtime win against South Dakota State.
• In the win over the Golden Eagles, George Natsvlishvili scored a team-high 19 points off the bench as the sophomore equaled his career-high in 21 minutes.
• In UND’s third straight win over SDSU, Garrett Anderson drained a go-ahead triple with 17 seconds left in the extra session. Anthony Smith III provided the spark off the bench in this one, finishing one shy of his career-high with 16 points.
• For the second straight year a national television audience was treated to free basketball as the Oral Roberts-NDSU tilt on CBSSN went into overtime. The Bison escaped once again, this time earning a 79-77 double-overtime win thanks to a putback by Noah Feddersen with a just a second remaining in the second extra session.
• Trevian Carson averaged 13.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 5.5 apg during NDSU’s opening two Summit victories.
• Carson led five Bison in double figures with 14 in an 84-61 win in their opener vs. South Dakota.
• Kansas City picked up its first road win of the season, which was also the only one of that variety by any squad during the opening week of conference play.
• KC forward Chris Dockery was the only league player to post back-to-back doubles during the opening week, posting 13-point, 11-rebound efforts against both Denver and Omaha.
• Dockery shares the overall lead in the category at three with South Dakota’s Cameron Fens, SDSU’s Damon Wilkinson and fellow Roo Jerome Palm.
• SDSU opened Summit play with an 84-69 home win over defending champion Omaha.
• Sophomore Damon Wilkinson put up a monster double-double with career-highs in points (24) and rebounds (19). It was the first 20-plus point game of his career and his 19 boards are the most by a Summit League player in a game this season.
• In the Jacks’ OT-loss at UND, Joe Sayler established a new career-high with 27 points. His previous career-high of 25 was also set against the Fighting Hawks a season ago in a home win. Jaden Jackson added 22 points to post his team-best fifth 20-point game of the season.
• Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams has reached double figures in three straight for Oral Roberts after reaching that same total in the Golden Eagles’ first 14 games. The junior forward scored 19 in the loss at UND, then put up a career-high 20 in the double-overtime setback at NDSU.
• Yamanouchi-Williams is averaging 16.3 ppg over his last three and 8.8 ppg for the season.
• South Dakota played just once during the opening week of play, falling 84-61 at NDSU. Junior Isaac Bruns scored 13 of his team-high 17 in the second half to eclipse the 1,000-point total for his career. Bruns is the only active Summit League player to score 1,000 career points at the Division I level.
• Miami (Fla.) transfer Paul Djobet is averaging 16.8 ppg in his first four outings for Omaha. He started the first two games in league play, equaling his season-high with 22 at SDSU and adding 16 in a home loss to Kansas City.
• Djobet is 8-for-16 from deep and 15-for-17 from the stripe, while shooting 47.8 percent overall from the field.
• St. Thomas extended the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak to 26 with a 92-88 win over Denver in what was the Tommies lone tilt during the opening week.
• The Pioneers held sophomore Nolan Minessale, the nation’s leading scorer at the time, to single digits for the first time this season but redshirt freshman Nick Janowski picked up the slack, dropping a career-high 31 points in the victory.
• Janowski was the 11th DI freshman to score 30-plus in a game this season and the Tommies now have three of the five 30-plus games by Summit players this season. Minessale has the other pair for UST.
• Ben Oosterbaan (16) and Austin Herro (15) also joined Janowski with season-high scoring efforts for the Tommies, who are averaging 81.4 ppg this season.
• The Pioneers opened Summit play with an 87-74 win over Kansas City. Carson Johnson led the way with 23 and now has seven 20-point games in his first season with DU.
• Zane Nelson scored a team-high 24 for the Pios at St. Thomas and is averaging 22.3 ppg over DU’s last four games. He also dished out six assists for the third time in his last eight games.

UPCOMING
Game | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Jan. 7
South Dakota at St. Thomas | FOX9+/SLN | 8 p.m. CT
 
Thursday, Jan. 8
North Dakota at Omaha | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
NDSU at Kansas City | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Denver at SDSU | MS/SLN | 7 p.m. CT
 
Saturday, Jan. 10
NDSU at Omaha | SLN | 1 p.m. CT
Denver at South Dakota | MS/SLN | 1 p.m. CT
North Dakota at Kansas City | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m. CT

Wednesday, Jan. 14
SDSU at NDSU | WDAYX/SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at Denver | SLN | 7 p.m. MT
 
Thursday, Jan. 15
St. Thomas at North Dakota | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Kansas City at South Dakota | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
 
Saturday, Jan. 17
South Dakota at North Dakota | MS/SLN | 1 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at NDSU | WDAYX/SLN | 1 p.m. CT
Kansas City at SDSU | MS/SLN | 4:15 p.m. CT
Omaha at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
 
Key: CBSSN (CBS Sports Network); FOX9+ (FOX9 Plus Minneapolis); SLN (Summit League Network).

Polls: AP/Coaches

RESULTS
Wednesday, Dec. 31
NDSU 84, South Dakota 61*
Denver 84, Kansas City 71*
 
Thursday, Jan. 1
North Dakota 72, Oral Roberts 61*
SDSU 84, Omaha 69*
 
Saturday, Jan. 3
North Dakota 90, SDSU 87 (OT)*
NDSU 79, Oral Roberts (2OT)*
Kansas City 73, Omaha 66*

Sunday, Jan. 4
St. Thomas 92, Denver 88*

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