Oral Roberts shines in Summit League Tournament Championship game
Throughout the regular season, Oral Roberts flexed its muscle in conference play going undefeated. And, on Tuesday night in the Summit League Tournament Championship game, it wasn’t much different.
The Golden Eagles soared past the North Dakota State Bison en route to a 92-58 win, securing an automatic bid to the NCAA March Madness Tournament, the program’s second in three years.
Oral Roberts (30-4) was led by senior guard Max Abmas, who finished with a double-double of 26 points and 11 assists. Abmas won the Championship’s Most Valuable Player award. Off the bench, junior forward Patrick Mwamba provided a spark offensively with 20 points.
In total, ORU had five players hit double-digits.
Offensively, the Golden Eagles found their rhythm early to the tune of a 14-0 run with buckets from Carlos Jürgens, Kareem Thompson, Abmas, Isaac McBride and Mwamba.
North Dakota State was able to break that run with scores from junior guard Boden Skunberg and sophomore forward Joshua Streit.
It wasn’t until too much longer when ORU went on another scoring frenzy, this time an 11-0 run capped by a dunk from redshirt senior DeShang Weaver, pushing the lead to 26 with seven minutes to play in the first half.
Right before the halftime buzzer, Mwamba connected on a three-point attempt, pushing the ORU lead to 31. In the first half, the Golden Eagles shot it at a 56.3% clip from the field and knocked down nine three-pointers.
“I feel like they just punched us in the face and we weren’t ready for it,” Skunberg said.
From there, North Dakota State was unable to mount a comeback.
“We just needed to be locked in defensively on our assignments, I thought we did that, but we really want our kids at halftime … I know we were up 31, but if we don’t stretch this thing, this thing could be a game really, really quick,” Mills said. “... I thought (NDSU) just ran out of gas.”
In a win against South Dakota State in the semifinals, the Bison found success in the paint, scoring 40 of its 89 points.
In the championship game that wouldn’t be the case. ORU held NDSU to just 28 points in the paint, while 7-foot-5-inch senior center Connor Vanover made his presence felt, swatting away six Bison shots.
“It’s something that you can’t simulate in practice. Give (Vanover) credit, he’s long, maybe not as physical as some, but he understands how to use his strengths and even the shots that he’s not blocking, he’s altering (them), he’s making you think about them,” North Dakota State Head Coach Dave Richman said. “... They’re able to crank things up on the other end of the floor on the perimeter because they know they got protection on the rim, and that’s where their defensive numbers have really improved.”
In the two previous matchups between ORU and NDSU, Bison junior forward Grant Nelson averaged 22.5 points. But, on Tuesday night, the Golden Eagles held the standout forward and NBA prospect to nine points, three of which came from the free-throw line.
“He’s such a unique player in that he can score in a variety of ways. I don’t know that it’s really anything that we did. I think playing three games in three days, it’s tough on anybody,” Oral Roberts Head Coach Paul Mills said.
The Bison turned to Skunberg who led the way offensively with 18 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Andrew Morgan added 13 points for the Bison.
As a team, the Bison shot at a 32.3% clip from the field and conncted on just two of 13 three-pointers attempted. It marked the third straight year where NDSU fell in the title game.
“For us, it’s a standard to get on this stage and we haven’t been able to push over the last couple of years,” Richman said. “That’s something that we have to challenge going forward, to continue to be better.”
Summit League All-Tournament Team
Connor Vanover, ORU
Max Abmas, ORU
Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas
Boden Skunberg, NDSU
Grant Nelson, NDSU
ORU will return to the March Madness Tournament, where they made a Cinderella storybook happen, reaching the Sweet 16, with wins over Ohio State and Florida before falling to Arkansas.
The Golden Eagles will wait to hear their name called on Selection Sunday at 5 p.m. on CBS. ESPN’s Bracketology projects ORU to earn a 12 seed in a showdown with Iowa State.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Oral Roberts beats North Dakota State in Summit League championship
