North Dakota State 83, Oral Roberts 75
The Bison used a strong second half to defeat three-time defending league champion and preseason favorite Oral Roberts. NDSU (3-2, 1-0 Summit League) trailed by two at halftime, but started the second half on a 12-0 run to take a 40-30 lead.
Oral Roberts refused to go away, fighting back and taking the lead twice. The Golden Eagles trailed by just one, 68-67, with 3:50 left, but the Bison then went on an 11-2 run to put the game out of reach.
“I thought it was an entertaining game, especially if you’re a Bison fan,” Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton told NDSU Athletics. “Both teams played very well on offense, especially the second half. I can’t say the same thing about the defense though. But give them credit, they’re a very good offensive team. I’m disappointed how we came out the second half. It’s very important to establish right away in the second half, and we didn’t do that. We battled back, and even took the lead at one point. Give those kids credits, they stepped up and hit some tough, tough shots and they were able to win this game tonight.”
The game between league favorites also drew an excited 4,165 fans to the Bison Sports Arena.
“Other than our place, this is by far the best atmosphere we have in this league,” Sutton told the Forum. “It was certainly an entertaining game.”
The Bison had five players score in double figures led by Ben Woodside’s 24 points and eight assists. Brett Winkelman added 20 points (18 in the second half) and 12 rebounds and Mike Nelson had 15 points.
“Obviously, at home we want to defend our home court,” Winkelman said. “Our confidence is sky high right now after that second half. We came out strong and we were knocking down shots.”
The early win over Oral Roberts is also huge for the Bison because now the worst they can do is split with the Golden Eagles.
“It’s important, because if you lose this one you have to go to Oral Roberts to try and get the split, which is hard to do,” North Dakota State coach Saul Phillips said. “This will be a completely different team the next time we see them. A kid like (Dominique) Morrison has had a significant impact on that team. I don’t know if you could ask for a true freshman to do more.”
Morrison led the Golden Eagles (1-5, 0-1) with 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Senior guard Robert Jarvis added 18 points, but shot 6-for-19 from the field, and Marcus Lewis had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Sutton didn’t have any complaints about his team’s offense, but was disappointed in his team’s defense in the second half.
“I told my guys it’s not a 20-minute game, it’s a 40-minute game,” Sutton said. “We need to be able to defend for long periods of time, and we haven’t been able to do that. It’ll take time to improve our defense, and we're learning, but it could be a struggle if we don’t learn quickly.”

Southern Utah 78, IPFW 62
Led by 21 points and seven rebounds from Davis Baker, the Thunderbirds improved to 2-0 in the Summit League. Southern Utah shot 57 percent and had four players finish in double figures. Dave Marek had 14 points and seven assists, true freshman Jake Nielson scored 14 points and Tyler Quinney added 12 points.
“The thing I was pleased with was that we were playing as a team,” Southern Utah coach Roger Reid told the Spectrum. “It’s tough to defend a team that has four or five guys that can score. We were getting everybody involved. Seventeen assists) means we’re an unselfish team. That means the players are looking to give their buddies an open shot.”
David Carson led IPFW with 20 points and shot 6-for-8 from the field. Deilvez Yearby added 13 points and Ben Botts finished with 10 points.

South Dakota State 71, Centenary 58
The Jacks (4-4, 1-0) used a dominate performance on the boards, 43-28, to start off Summit League play with a victory.
"Our goal is to outrebound every team we play by 10,” South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy told the Argus-Leader. “I can count on my hand in the years that I've been here - I'm on my 14th (year) - how may times we've lost when we've out-rebounded (a team) by 10. You're just not going to lose games when you do that."
Junior Garrett Callahan finished with 20 points and five rebounds, sophomore Anthony Cordove added 15 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Dale Moss had 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench.
“This was a big game for our kids," Nagy told the Argus-Leader. “And I felt like it was slipping away. But our guys did a nice job of pulling themselves back together. And we were fortunate Dale Moss showed up today.”
Junior Chase Adams led Centenary (2-7, 0-1) with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Senior Nick Stallings added 10 points and seven rebounds and sophomore Roman Tubner finished with 10 points for the Gents, who shot 38 percent from the field.