SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Two weeks of Summit men’s basketball action is all that remains before postseason play is upon us.  Those two weeks will decide plenty as teams get primed for tournament runs and continue jockeying for seeding.

One of those teams playing well is defending champion Omaha, who rattled off back-to-back home wins last week to move back over the .500 mark in Summit play and into the top half of the standings.

The Mavericks and the rest of the pack are chasing league-leading North Dakota State, who widened its lead to two games entering the back stretch. The Bison, 6-0 on the road this season in Summit action, are closing on the program’s first regular season title since 2020.

All eight games this week are on the Summit League Network with two tipping off Wednesday evening.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
• The defending champs are trending in the right direction after Omaha secured home wins over St. Thomas and Denver to move back over the .500 mark in league play.
• A reason they are trending that way has been the insertion of Valentino Simon into the starting lineup. In last week’s two home wins, the Nassau, Bahamas native averaged 16.0, 7.5 rpg and 4.0 apg for the Mavericks who now sit at 7-6 with a home game against Oral Roberts Wednesday.
• In the 98-94 win over St. Thomas, Simon registered a double-double with a career-high 21 points and career-high 10 rebounds. In his nine Summit appearances leading up to that, he had totaled just 14 points and 11 rebounds. Simon also added a career-high six assists in the win over Denver.
• NDSU improved to 6-0 in Summit road games after posting an 83-66 win at in-state rival North Dakota. The Bison trailed 32-31 at the half but outscored the Fighting Hawks 52-34 after the break.
• Sophomore Andy Stefanowicz scored 20 points on 5-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc and added four assists to maintain the league-lead in that category (4.7/g; 126).
• The Bison play Wednesday at SDSU and at St. Thomas next Thursday with Saturday home games vs. Kansas City (2/21) and UND (2/28) remaining as they seek the program’s first regular season title since sharing the 2020 title with SDSU.
• St. Thomas bounced back from a 98-94 loss at Omaha to earn a split in road games last week, routing KC 104-64.
• The Tommies averaged 99.0 ppg last week and pushed their league-leading scoring output to 83.9 ppg overall and 87.6 ppg in Summit play.
• UST has a road game at Denver Saturday before closing out Summit play with back-to-back home games vs. NDSU (2/26) and Omaha (2/28).
• Sophomore Nolan Minessale has regained his scoring prowess of late. After reaching 20-plus in the Tommies first eight games and 13 of 15 non-conference games, Minessale has now posted three in UST’s last four Summit games. He scored a team-high 25 in the win over the Roos and 24.0 ppg during that stretch.
• North Dakota split a pair of games last week, winning 72-71 on the road before falling to league-leading NDSU at home. The Fighting Hawks remained in third place in the league standings and sit at 9-4 with three games remaining.
• Redshirt freshman scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half of UND’s comeback win over the Coyotes. UND erased a 12-point halftime deficit.
• The one-point home loss was the only tilt of the week for USD, who returns to action Thursday at Denver.
• Senior Cameron Fens had his league-leading 10th double-double against the Fighting Hawks, going for 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. He is one of 34 Division I players with 10 or more on the campaig
• Seven of Fens’ double-doubles have come against Summit foes and he is averaging 17.6 ppg and 10.7 rpg in those contests.
• Denver was one of six Summit teams to split its games last week, beating SDSU by 18 at home before falling at Omaha Sunday by seven.
• Sophomore Carson Johnson continues to pace the scoring race in Summit play at 21.6 ppg after scoring 23 vs. the Jacks and 17 vs. the Mavericks. He has 16 straight double-figure scoring games and 26 overall during his first season at DU.
• The Pioneers are at home for back-to-back tilts against South Dakota (Thur.) and St. Thomas (Sat.) this week before closing out the regular season at Oral Roberts on Feb. 26.
• SDSU split a pair of road games last week to stay in a pack of four programs that are separated by just 1.5 games for the fourth through seventh spots in the standings.
• In the 87-69 win at ORU Saturday, five Jacks scored 13 or more points, including Alec Squires, who went 5-for-7 from the field off the bench. Kalen Garry led that group with 18 vs. the Golden Eagles.
• The Jackrabbits have back-to-back home games vs. NDSU and UND this week as they look to move up the ladder.
• Oral Roberts picked up its first win of Summit play, knocking off Kansas City 69-60 Thursday.
• Sophomore Luke Gray had 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high four blocks in the win over the Roos. Gray now has five double-figure scoring games in 12 Summit games after posting four in 15 non-conference games.
• Gray matched his point total in a loss to SDSU Saturday, giving him the first back-to-back double-figure scoring games of his career.
• KC’s Jerome Palm had his fourth double-double of the season in the loss to ORU, scoring 11 points to go with 12 rebounds.
• Chris Dockery hit double figures in both the Roos games’ and now has three straight games at that threshold, which is the longest of his season. He’s averaging 13.7 ppg over that stretch.

UPCOMING
Game | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Feb. 18
NDSU at SDSU | SLN/MS | 7 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at Omaha | SLN | 7 p.m. CT

Thursday, Feb. 19
Kansas City at North Dakota | SLN/MS | 7 p.m. CT
South Dakota at Denver | SLN/ALT2 | 7 p.m. MT

Saturday, Feb. 21
Kansas City at NDSU | SLN/WDAYX | 1 p.m. CT
North Dakota at SDSU | SLN | 2 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at Denver | SLN | 4 p.m. MT
South Dakota at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m. CT

Wednesday, Feb. 26
Omaha at South Dakota | CBSSN | 6 p.m. CT
 
Thursday, Feb. 26
SDSU at Kansas City | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Denver at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
NDSU at St. Thomas | SLN | 8 p.m. CT
 
Saturday, Feb. 28
SDSU at South Dakota | SLN/MS | 1 p.m. CT
North Dakota at NDSU | SLN/WDAYX | 4 p.m. CT
Omaha at St. Thomas | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at Kansas City | SLN | 7 p.m. CT

Key: ALT2 (Altitude); CBSSN (CBS Sports Network); FOX9+ (FOX9 Plus Minneapolis); MS (Midco Sports); MS2 (Midco Sports 2); SLN (Summit League Network).
Polls: AP/Coaches

RESULTS
Wednesday, Feb. 11
North Dakota 72, South Dakota 71

Thursday, Feb. 12
Denver 79, SDSU 61
Omaha 98, St. Thomas 94
Oral Roberts 69, Kansas City 60
 
Saturday, Feb. 14
NDSU 83, North Dakota 66
SDSU 87, Oral Roberts 69
St. Thomas 104, Kansas City 64
 
Sunday, Feb. 15
Omaha 83, Denver 76

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