The opponent — UMKC (7-23, 3-14 Summit) come into Saturday’s game playing for nothing but pride. The Kangaroos will miss the conference tournament for the first time since joining the Summit League. UMKC has lost 11 of its last 12 and is 0-8 on the road in league play (2-13 overall).

The Kangaroos will likely start three freshman (Dustin Dibble, Latreze Mushatt and Trey McKinney-Jones) and two sophomores (Spencer Johnson and Bakari Lewis) against Oakland.

Leading scorer Dane Brumagin (15.3 per game) has been battling a sore Achilles’ and has missed three games and played six minutes or less in three others in UMKC’s last seven games, with the lone exception being when he scored 16 points in 24 minutes on UMKC's senior night. Brumagin will likely play limited minutes Saturday, but he is a deadly shooter that can get hot in a hurry.

The Kangaroos are also without second leading scorer Reggie Hamilton (12.6 points, 3.6 assists), who asked and was granted his release from his scholarship back in January.

Lewis, a transfer from Nicholls State who sat out UMKC’s first 10 games, has stepped as of late. Lewis (6-foot-1) has started the last seven games and averaged 15 points a game over that span. He is averaging 10.5 points and 2.5 assists on the season. Lewis has the third most 3-pointers (22 in 19 games) on the team behind Brumagin (52) and Hamilton (34).

Mushatt, who graduated from Saginaw Arthur Hill, is averaging 12 points a game in his last 11. The 6-5 freshman is averaging 5.6 rebounds on the season and has started 24 games.

Johnson (6-foot-6) is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.6 per game and is averaging 10.3 points per game. Johnson is the second tallest player on the team behind 6-7 sophomore James Humphrey (3.7 points, 3.0 rebounds).

Dibble is also a Michigan native and graduated from Petoskey High School. He made his second start since Dec. 28 on Thursday at IPFW and scored a career-high 15 points on 5 for 8 shooting.


Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson vs. UMKC’s Spencer Johnson. Benson and Johnson both had big games in the first meeting between these two schools. Benson finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Johnson had 20 points and 13 rebounds. These two will likely battle on the boards once again. Benson has a five-inch height advantage, but Johnson will try to counter with his quickness. Oakland will likely try to feed Benson and Will Hudson early and often, so Benson could be in for a big day.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 17-6 and has won the last four meetings. UMKC is 2-8 all-time at O’Rena with its last win being in 2006. The Grizzlies won a tight one, 84-78, back on Dec. 4 earlier this season. Kangas scored 19 points for Oakland and hit a key 3-pointer with 52 seconds left to give the Grizzlies the lead for good. Johnathon Jones had 12 points and six assists and freshman Matt Samuels had a career-high 10 points. Brumagin led UMKC with 29 points, including five 3-pointers and Hamilton added 15 points and nine assists.

The skinny — Oakland clearly has more to play for with a chance at a perfect home record for the first time in school history and its first 20-win season since turning Division I. Oakland coach Greg Kampe said he’s excited about the opportunity to hit both milestones.

“I think those are milestones, you strive to get those,” Kampe said after practice Friday. “To have a chance to do that, I think is really important for our program, especially when you look at who we play. That’s the big thing. We have 55 wins over the last three years and look at who we play, six or seven BCS schools a year. This year 13 of our first 15 games were away from the O’Rena, not at home. I think it’s quite a milestone.

“I think one of the things that you judge a program on and if you look around the country and see the programs that are really good, they always have a long homecourt winning streak. I think that’s important. Ours is at 12 right now, we have a chance to get it to 13. All programs that are running and going in the right direction, you look at that’s something they usually have. To finally get something like that just puts you in that group and I think that’s important. This is year 10 of Division I and it’s time to have milestones like that. I’m excited about it. I think 20 wins is big.”

The Grizzlies also have a chance to enter the league tournament on a seven-game win streak, which would be the second longest win streak in school history. Seniors Kangas, Dan Waterstradt and Ricky Bieszki will all start and be playing their final regular-season home games. Look for all three to give an inspired effort and for the underclassmen to follow their lead.

The final Saturday of the regular season in the Summit League is here and it will be an interesting one. Only two teams fates are already decided, Oakland will be the three seed and UMKC won’t make the conference tournament. Everyone else has something to play for, here is how things breakdown, game by game.

Update: Got an update from the league office today, apparently Saturday's Oral Roberts-North Dakota State game is winner take all. Meaning the winner is the No. 1 seed.

From the league office: In the event of a tie between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts, ORU will be the top seed in the tournament based on tiebreaker procedures. The teams split their head-to-head competition, therefore moving the tiebreaker to comparison of the teams’ record against the team occupying the highest position in the standings until a team gains the advantage. ORU went 2-0 against Southern Utah while NDSU went 1-1. In the event that Southern Utah and IPFW, or any additional team(s) tie, SUU gains the higher seed based on the same procedure.

North Dakota State (22-6, 15-2) at Oral Roberts (16-13, 14-3), 7:05 p.m. — There is no doubt this is the big one. The Bison have already clinched a share of the regular-season league title, but the No. 1 seed in the Summit League tournament and the automatic NIT bid are still up for grabs. The Golden Eagles can secure the No. 1 seed with a win and if Southern Utah wins at IPFW. NDSU wins the title outright with a victory and no tiebreaker is needed.

Southern Utah (10-18, 8-9) at IPFW (12-16, 7-10), 4 p.m. — Both teams have secured a spot in the tournament, but have plenty to play for. The Thunderbirds can secure at least the five-seed, possibly the fourth with a win. A loss and Southern Utah could fall to the six-seed and have to face red-hot Oakland in the first round. IPFW is currently in sixth, but could jump to five with a win, while a loss could put it in seventh.


IUPUI (15-13, 8-9) at Western Illinois (9-19, 6-11), 7 p.m. — The Leathernecks could be playing for their tournament life, but will know their fate before the game because Centenary plays at 2:30 p.m. If the Gents lose, Western Illinois is in, but if the Gents win, Western Illinois must win to get in. The Leathernecks will be the eight seed if they can get in because they can’t win the tiebreakers with IPFW or South Dakota State. IUPUI can secure the four seed with a win, but based on its sweeps of IPFW and Southern Utah can fall now lower than the five seed (I think) so the Jaguars are likely locked in at the 4-5 matchup.

South Dakota State (12-18, 7-10) at Centenary (7-22, 5-12), 2:30 p.m. — The Gents have collapsed after a nice start to the conference season, losing eight straight, but amazingly can still sneak into the tournament with a win and a Western Illinois loss. The Jackrabbits, which are hosting the tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., are the real wildcard. SDSU has clinched a spot, but can finish as high as fourth and as low as seventh (I think). Best-case scenario for the Jacks, is they win, IPFW beats Southern Utah and Western Illinois beats IUPUI, which would create a four-way tie at 8-10 for the 4-7 spots. Who goes where I can’t really figure out because there is so many tiebreakers in play based on head-to-head sweeps and wins over the top three teams. I’ll let the league sort that mess out.


UMKC (7-23, 3-14) at Oakland (19-11, 12-5), 6 p.m. — This game is meaningless to the standings, but Oakland has a chance to secure 20 wins, a perfect home record and extends its winning streak to seven.

My predictions
1. Oral Roberts — Golden Eagles win fifth straight-regular season title and the No. 1 seed based on the tiebreaker.
2. North Dakota State — Bison lose at ORU and lose the tiebreaker because of loss to SUU
3. Oakland — Grizzlies enter tourney on seven game win streak
4. IUPUI — Jags beat Leathernecks and secure fourth spot
5. Southern Utah — Thunderbirds win over NDSU secures it the five seed
6. IPFW — Mastodons win third straight, but lose tiebreaker to SUU
7. South Dakota State — Jacks pick up first road win in conference play and get another shot at ORU
8. Western Illinois — The Leathernecks sneak in despite losing three-straight at home to end the season
9. Centenary — Gents complete collapse and lose their ninth straight to end the year
10. UMKC — The Kangaroos fall to Oakland and use the offseason to figure out what went wrong

The opponent — Southern Utah (10-17, 8-8 Summit) enters Thursday’s contest a half game ahead of IUPUI for fourth place and has already clinched a spot in the conference tournament. The Thunderbirds have won four of their last six and can’t finish worse than sixth in the league.

Junior forward Davis Baker (6-foot-4) leads the team in scoring at 17.8 per game and is fifth in the conference. Baker scored 28 points in the Thunderbirds last game and is averaging 22.3 point per game in his last six. Baker is 11th in the nation in free-throw percentage (88.9 percent) for Southern Utah, which as a team leads the nation at 80.3 percent. Baker has 38 3-pointers this season, which is second on the team.

Senior center John Clifford (6-10) leads the league in rebounding at 8.1 per game and is second in field goal percentage (64.6 percent). Clifford, who averages 9.8 points per game, has six double-doubles this season. Senior forward Tyler Quinney (6-7) is second on the team in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (5.1), and shoots 85.5 percent from the free-throw line. Clifford and Quinney both played for Southern Utah coach Roger Reid at Snow College before transferring to SUU last season.

Senior guard Dave Marek is the team’s top 3-pointer shooter, averaging 1.6 per game and hitting 42 percent of his attempts. Marek is also fourth in the conference in assists at 3.0 per game and averageds 8.6 points per game. Reid has started Baker, Clifford, Quinney and Marek in 26 of 27 games this season, with the lone exception being because Quinney sat out a game with an ankle injury.

Freshman Jake Nielson (6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds) has started the Thunderbirds last six games and SUU is 4-2 in that span. Nielson is a true freshman, but is 21 years old (will be 22 in April). He originally committed to Colorado State, but came to Southern Utah after serving a SDS church mission. Key players off the bench for the Thunderbirds include Cory Davis (3.8 points) and Mike Josserand (2.9 points, 2.9 assists).

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Southern Utah’s Davis Baker. Kangas had his worst offensive game of the season against the Thunderbirds in December, scoring just five points on 1-for-5 shooting. It is one of two times this season Kangas has failed to score in double figures, with the other being against North Dakota State when he was battling a calf injury. Oakland will likely need a bigger game out of Kangas. The Grizzlies are 9-1 when he scores 20 points or more. Kangas is six 3-poiners away from the single-season league record. Baker scored 22 points in SUU’s win earlier this season, shooting 9-for-16 from the field and hitting three 3-pointers. The Thunderbirds are 7-6 when Baker scores over 20 points.

Matchup history — Southern Utah leads the all-time series 13-9 and has won the last four, including an 82-66 victory in Cedar City back on Dec. 2. Senior Tyler Quinney led all scorers with 35 points on 11-for-16 shooting and shot 13-for-15 from the free-throw line. John Clifford added 12 points and nine rebounds for SUU, which had 82 points despite having just five players score. Drew Maynard led Oakland with 17 points, Johnathon Jones added 16 points and Blake Cushingberry had 14 points off the bench.

The skinny — Oakland (18-11, 11-5) is well-aware Southern Utah has won the last four meetings and will look to end that streak Thursday. The Grizzlies, who won five straight, are just two games away from a perfect home record and 20 wins so shouldn’t lack any motivation. Oakland has averaged 80 points a game during its five-game win streak and will likely try to control the tempo against the Thunderbirds, who average 66.1 points per game.

The Grizzlies will need more of its big men (Keith Benson, Will Hudson and Dan Waterstradt) who combined to score 12 points in the loss in Cedar City. Jones, who has 65 assists in his last five games, will likely try to get them involved early.

Oakland also has to avoid silly fouls against the Thunderbirds and keep them out of the bonus. SUU leads the nation in free-throw shooting and shot 16-for-20 in its win over Oakland.

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland senior Dan Waterstradt and assistant coach Saddi Washington.

1. North Dakota State (21-6, 14-2 Summit) — The Bison routed rival South Daktoa State on senior night and then went on the road to beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which is 10-6 in the Horizon League and was coming off a win over No. 22 Butler. NDSU now hits the road with hopes of clinching its first Summit League championship and at least an NIT berth. The Bison play at reeling Centenary and then at Oral Roberts in a showdown that will likely determine the league champion. NDSU could still win the league with a loss at ORU because the tiebreaker is still up in the air.
2. Oral Roberts (15-13, 13-3) — The Golden Eagles dominated a pair of road games last week to stay in the regular-season title hunt. ORU beat Southern Utah and UMKC by a combined scored of 157-108 and hit 18 3-pointers in the two wins. Oral Roberts is 6-0 in league play when it hits six or more 3-pointers in a game. To truly see how dominant the Golden Eagles were at UMKC click here.
3. Oakland (18-11, 11-5) — The Golden Grizzlies swept a pair of road games last week and have now won five straight as they prepare to end the regular-season with a pair of home games. Oakland clinched at least the third seed with the win over IUPUI. Junior point guard Johnathon Jones tied his career-high with 15 assists against the Jaguars and now has 65 assists (13 per game) in his last five games. Freshman Blake Cushingberry scored a career-high 24 points at IUPUI and hit his first seven shots, including four 3-pointers.
4. Southern Utah (10-17, 8-8) — The Thunderbirds clinched a conference tournament berth with their win over Centenary. SUU has now beat every team in the league except Oral Roberts, which routed the Thunderbirds, 64-46, last week. Senior John Clifford had a double-double in the final home game of his career, finishing with 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against the Gents. Davis Baker scored a career-high 28 in the victory and continues to make a strong case to be on the all-league team.
5. IUPUI (15-13, 8-9) — The Jaguars trailed by 20 with 11:26 left against Oakland after head coach Ron Hunter got ejected. IUPUI rallied to pull within three and had the ball with less than a minute left, but a Robert Glenn 3-pointer was off the mark. OU sealed the game at the free-throw line from there. The Jaguars clinched a conference tournament berth with their win over IPFW earlier in the week. IUPUI has just one game left at Western Illinois and could end up playing just about anyone in the tournament based on how the final week plays out.
6. South Dakota State (12-17, 7-9) — The Jacks can clinch a conference tournament berth with a win or a Centenary loss this week. SDSU, which is 1-13 on the road this season, is still looking for its first Summit League road win. The Jacks are 0-16 all-time in Summit League road games. SDSU fell by four, 66-62, at 7-17 Cal Poly in its ESPN Bracketbusters game. Sophomore Dale Moss is averaging 20 points a game in his last three as he fills in for the injured Clint Sargent.
7. IPFW (11-16, 6-10) — The Mastodons can clinch a tournament spot with a win over last-place UMKC Thursday. If IPFW wins both home games next week, it could move as high as the fifth seed. Senior Jakari Johnson scored a season-high 17 points off the bench in the Mastodons win over Western Illinois. Senior David Carson scored eight points in IPFW's loss to IUPUI. The Mastodons are 0-6 this season when Carson fails to score in double figures.
8. Western Illinois (9-19, 6-11) — The Leathernecks were outscored 159-126 in a pair of home losses last week to Oakland and IPFW. WIU has just one game left and could still make the tournament with a loss, but would need Centenary to loss both of its home games next week. Freshman Ceola Clark averaged 25.5 points a game and hit eight 3-pointers in the Leathernecks two losses last week.
9. Centenary (7-21, 5-11) — The Gents dropped two more last week and have now lost seven in a row. Leading scorer Nick Stalling averaged just five points a game in the pair of losses last week. The Gents will need to win both home games this week or win one and have Western Illinois lose at home to IUPUI to make the tournament. Centenary would win the tiebreaker with WIU based on its win over Oakland.
10. UMKC (7-22, 3-13) — Freshman Fred Ford’s layup with sixth tenths of a second remaining lifted the Kangaroos over Centenary and snapped their eight-game losing streak. UMKC was then embarrassed, 93-62, by Oral Roberts on senior night. On a positive note, senior Dane Brumagin was able to play in his final home game and scored 16 points in 24 minutes.

Thought I would try to predict how the conference race will play out in the final week and half. Here is what I see happening, but the Summit League has proved to be unpredictable so far this season.

1. Oral Roberts (wins out) 15-3
North Dakota State (wins 1 of 2) 15-3
3. Oakland (wins out) 13-5
4. IUPUI (splits two) 9-9
5. IPFW (wins 2 of 3) 8-10
Southern Utah (wins 1 of 3) 8-10
7. Western Illinois (splits) 7-11
8. SDSU (loses out) 6-12
9. Centenary (wins 1 of 3) 6-12
10. UMKC (loses 3) 3-15

The tiebreakers are too difficult to predict at this time. In this scenario the tiebreaker between Oral Roberts and NDSU will be based on where IPFW and SUU finish, which in this scenario finish tied. The tiebreaker between IPFW and SUU would be based on where ORU and NDSU finish, which is based on where they finish. Confused yet, I know I am. SDSU wins the tiebreaker with Centenary based on its split with IPFW this season.

Anybody have any better predictions?

The opponent — IUPUI (15-12, 8-8) enters Saturday’s game in fourth place in the league and clinched a spot in the conference tournament with a win over IPFW Thursday. The win gave the Jaguars the tiebreaker over IPFW, which can only tie them now and UMKC can’t catch the Jaguars.

Junior Robert Glenn, a transfer from junior college Wabash Valley, is the frontrunner for Summit League Newcomer of the Year. Glenn (6-foot-7) leads the Jaguars in scoring (13.9), blocks (1.7) and is third in rebounding (5.3). He is currently seventh in the nation in field goal percentage (62.9 percent, with a minimum five field goals per game). Glenn averages 16.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in league play and has scored 20 or more in five of IUPUI’s last eight games.

Freshman Alex Young is the Jaguars second leading scorer at 11.1 per game, but has found himself in and out of the starting lineup, starting three of the last 10 games. He was held scoreless in IUPUI’s win over IPFW and has scored in double figures just twice in his last nine games after scoring in double figures in 14 of his first 15 games. Young still leads all Summit League freshman in scoring, but has been ineffective when his minutes and shots are limited.

Sophomore Leroy Nobles (10.1 points, 1.4 3-pointers) has emerged as one of the Jaguars top 3-point threats. Nobles has averaged 12.5 points and 2.1 3-pointers in his last 11 games, including 16.3 points in his last three games.

Gary Patterson (9.6 points, 2.0 3-pointers, 2.7 assists) is the Jaguars' lone senior and will be playing in the last home game of his career. Junior Jon Avery (8.9 points and 5.8 rebounds) has started seven of the Jaguars last nine games and in those seven starts he is averaging 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Sophomore Adrian Moss, who missed nine games with a knee injury, started the Jaguars last game and has started eight games this season, averaging 4.6 points and 2.6 assists. Junior forward Billy Pettiford (5.4 points and 5.6 rebounds) started the first 20 games off the season, but has came off the bench in six of his last eight games. The 6-7 Pettiford leads the team in assists at 2.6 per game. Sophomore John Ashworth (3.1 points) averages over 20 minutes a game and has made 13 starts.

Head coach Ron Hunter has lead the Jaguars to seven consecutive seasons with a .500 record or above. He is the school’s all-time leader in wins with 248.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson vs. IUPUI’s Robert Glenn. Glenn has scored in double figures in 15 of his last 16 games, with the lone exception begin a two-point performance against Oakland on Jan. 22. He played just 15 minutes, which is he second lowest all season. Benson had nine points and 10 rebounds in Oakland’s win over IUPUI. Benson is also coming a seven-point effort against Western Illinois, his lowest scoring output since Nov. 29. Expect a bigger game out of both these guys on Saturday as each team will try to get their big guy going.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 18-12, but is just 6-9 all-time at The Jungle. IUPUI is 8-4 at home this season and the Jaguars homecourt nicknamed The Jungle, which seats just over 1,200 fans, is a difficult place to play. The Grizzlies won the last meeting, 75-57, led by 33 points from senior Erik Kangas, who shot 11-for-15 from the field and 8-for-11 from 3-point range. Freshman Drew Maynard was the only other Oakland player in double figures with 15 points and point guard Johnathon Jones added seven points and 10 assists.

The skinny — This is the Grizzlies (17-11, 10-5) final road game of the regular season and an important game for a couple reasons. Oakland can clinch at least the third seed with a win and will also have a chance to reach 20 wins in the regular season. The Grizzlies also still have a shot at second place, but need Oral Roberts to lose two games. An Oakland loss and Oral Roberts win eliminates Oakland from a shot at second place.

Oakland started off hot against Western Illinois and will likely to try to get off to another hot start against the Jaguars. The Grizzlies are 13-3 when leading at halftime. Kangas scored 23 points at Western Illinois and Oakland is now 9-1 when he scores 20 or more. Kangas is two 3-pointers shy of breaking his single-season school record for 3-pointes (108).

Junior point guard Johnathon Jones continues to lead the nation in total assists with 208 and has reached double figure assists in four straight games. Look for Jones to get his teammates involved early and try to silent the home crowd.

There was never any doubt in Oakland’s convincing 77-52 win at Western Illinois. The Golden Grizzlies (17-11, 10-5 Summit) jumped out to a 12-0 lead, led by nine points from senior Erik Kangas (three 3-pointers). Oakland never led by less than 10 the rest of the game and by as many as 30.

Kangas finished with 23 points and hit seven 3-pointers. The seven 3-pointers give Kangas 108 this season, one short of his school-record 109 during the 2006-07 season.

Sophomore point guard Johnathon Jones had 16 points and 10 assists. Jones has recorded double digit assists in four straight games and six of his last eight.

“He’s got (50) assists in the last four games,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe told Oakland Athletics “I don’t think there’s anybody else in the country who has that. He’s also got Kangas making shots. That kind of helps. He’s just an outstanding player. I think he’s as good as there is at the point. He had an unlike-Johnathon Jones game last Saturday, and we won anyway by double digits. I love him as a player, and I hate to think he’s only got a year and a few games left. We’ll enjoy him while we’ve got him.”

The Grizzlies defense was impressive in the first half, holding the Leathernecks (9-18, 6-10) to 29.2 percent shooting and Ceola Clark and David DuBois combined for all 20 first-half points.

“I’ve never seen that before, where only two players on a team scored in a half,” Kampe said. “I didn’t know it until we got in at halftime, and then my staff said that only two guys had scored. And then my answer to that was ‘How did that guy get to 13?’ They struggled to score. They’ve scored 70 points four times this year, and their high, 75 was against a non-Division I school. So in Division I play they’ve only scored 70 points three times. My feeling was if we could get to 75 we’re going to win. We went with our zone, which we haven’t been playing much of. We didn’t want to let (David) Nurse come off the screen and get open, or let (David) DuBois run free. If we could stop those two guys, and they’re going to get some points, but they’re not going to get to 75.”

Senior Dan Waterstradt had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench, freshman Drew Maynard added nine points and five rebounds and Keith Benson finished with seven points and seven rebounds for Oakland.

Clark led Western Illinois with a career-high 24 points and DuBois finished with 14 points and five rebounds.

“I want to give Oakland a tremendous amount of credit,” Western Illinois head coach Jim Molinari told WIU athletics. “They were very aggressive and we lose our confidence when we can’t stop people. They hit us with three or four 3s right away and then we were struggling. I don’t want to take away from everything we’ve done because we still have a lot to play for. These games in February are going to be really tough, with tough matchups and a lot of travel. Tough players play and tonight we didn’t do that. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what we have to do different.”

Oakland can still get to 20 wins with the victory and is still fighting for the second seed despite Oral Roberts winning at Southern Utah Thursday night.

“We still have a chance to sneak into second place,” Kampe said. “We lost what I think is the best player in the league (Derick Nelson). Some people had him as the preseason player of the year, other people had (North Dakota State’s Ben) Woodside. I just think Nelson is the best player in the league, but I’m prejudiced. We lost him before the season started, and if you would have told me then that we had a chance to win 20 games, that we would have a chance for a second or third seed, I would have been skeptical.

"I’m really pleased with the progress of our team. We’re very young. Our two scholarship seniors (Erik Kangas and Dan Waterstradt) are having really good senior seasons, and I think Kangas is an outstanding player. They’ve taken it upon themselves. It would be easy for them to sit there and say ‘you know, we’ve lost this great player and we’ll wait till next year,’ except they’re not going to be here next year. Our freshmen are getting better every time we play, and that’s four in a row that we’ve won now. We still haven’t been beaten at home, so we’ve still got a lot of things we’re playing for down the stretch. We’ve got two more home games and hopefully we can finish an undefeated season at home. We need three more wins for 20 wins. If we get 20 wins, with those new postseason tournaments, we might be able to get into one of those postseason tournaments. So there’s a lot for us to play for.”

The Leathernecks remain in a tie with IPFW, which lost to IUPUI Thursday night, for eighth place. Western Illinois hosts IPFW Saturday.

“IPFW lost by two tonight so they will come in here all charged up,” Molinari said. “We have to figure out what we have to do because IPFW is a heck of a team.”

The opponent — Western Illinois (9-17, 6-9 Summit) has won three of its last six and is fighting for a spot in the conference tournament. The Leathernecks have three straight home games to end the regular season, starting with Thursday’s game against Oakland.

Leading scorer David DuBois (17.9 points and 5.8 rebounds) hit two free throws with five seconds left to secure Western Illinois’ 55-54 win at Centenary last Saturday. DuBois missed the Leathernecks’ three-point loss at Oral Roberts with an ankle injury.

Western Illinois has been starting a four-guard lineup of DuBois, Josh Rivers (10.1 points, 1.8 3-pointers) David Nurse (8.6 points, 1.7 3-pointers) and Tommie Tyler (3.5 points). James Granstra (6-foot-10) is the lone forward and averages 2.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Ceola Clark (6.6 points) is the leading scorer off the bench, with Quenton Kirby (6.2 points and 3.1 rebounds) and Rodney Williams Jr. (4.2 points) also key contributors.

Western Illinois would be the seven seed if the tournament were to start today and is a half game ahead of IPFW and Centenary.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Will Hudson vs. Western Illinois’ David DuBois. Oakland held DuBois to 12 points last time and rolled to a 40-point win. DuBois averages 19.5 points a game at home where the Leathernecks are 5-3. At 6-foot-9 Hudson will have the height advantage and will have to make DuBois work on the defensive end or Oakland may have to go with a smaller lineup. If Hudson can limit DuBois then Western Illinois will have a tough time beating the Golden Grizzlies. If DuBois has a big game then the Leathernecks could get the W.

Matchup history — Oakland has won five straight, including a 86-46 win back on Jan. 24. Erik Kangas led the way with 27 points and Keith Benson added 24 points and 12 rebounds. The Grizzlies lead the all-time series 19-4 and have a seven-game win streak at WIU’s Western Hall. Oakland’s last defeat in Macomb, Ill. was on Feb. 3, 2001. The Grizzlies beat the Leathernecks three times last season, including in the first round of the Summit League tournament.

The skinny — Oakland is just 2-5 on the road in conference play and can use this final road trip to build some confidence on the road, especially the younger players. The conference tournament is technically on a neutral floor, but if Oakland faces South Dakota State or North Dakota State at the tournament it will have the feel of a road game. The Grizzlies also still have a shot at the second seed and the off day that comes with it. Oakland trails Oral Roberts by two games with four games left so a loss will likely put Oakland out of the race for second and possibly open the door for Southern Utah to steal the third seed.

Western Illinois will likely come out inspired because it is playing for its conference tournament life and will also want to avenge the 40-point shellacking in Rochester. Oakland will have to weather that initial storm and try to get off to a good start. Establishing Benson and Hudson inside early against the smaller Leathernecks will also be important.

1. North Dakota State (20-6, 14-2 Summit) — The Bison had their 11-game win streak snapped by Southern Utah, which was also their first home loss of the season. NDSU allowed the Thunderbirds to shoot 54.9 percent and had just five bench points. The Bison followed that up with a convincing win over SDSU, with Ben Woodside netting 32 points. NDSU will play at Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday as part of the ESPN Bracketbusters. It appears the league race could come down to NDSU’s game at Oral Roberts on the final day of the regular season.
2. Oral Roberts (13-13, 11-3) — The Golden Eagles swept Western Illinois and IUPUI last week. The win over the Leathernecks wasn’t pretty, but Oral Roberts had four players in double figures against IUPUI. The Golden Eagles also hit eight 3-pointers, which was just the second time they have hit eight or more since Dec. 17. If Oral Roberts can sweep its two-game road trip this week, it could set up a showdown for the regular-season title with NDSU, but a loss could open the door to Oakland for second place.
3. Oakland (16-11, 9-5) — The Golden Grizzlies completed a season-sweep of IPFW and shot 62.3 percent in the win. Four players scored in double figures led by Keith Benson’s 23. Johnathon Jones had a school record 15 assists against the Mastodons. OU hits the road this week looking to gain some confidence on the road. The Grizzlies are just 2-5 on the road in conference play. Oakland needs help, but still has a shot at the second seed in the conference tournament.
4. Southern Utah (9-16, 7-7) — The Thunderbirds blew a second-half lead at SDSU, but followed that up by shocking NDSU. Davis Baker averaged 24.5 points last week to earn Player of the Week honors. Baker hit a jumper with 37 seconds left to give the Thunderbirds the lead for good against NDSU. Southern Utah leads the nation in free-throw percentage, shooting 80.4 percent and shot 12-for-12 against NDSU. The Thunderbirds sit in fourth place and have a shot at third beginning this week when they hosts Oral Roberts and Centenary.
5. IUPUI (14-12, 7-8) — The Jaguars split a pair of road games last week and can now clinch a spot in the conference tournament with a win over IPFW Thursday. Junior Robert Glenn averaged 21.5 points a game last week and is making a strong case to be an all-conference selection and Newcomer of the Year. Freshman Alex Young averaged 15.5 points after getting re-inserted into the starting lineup last week.
6. South Dakota State (12-16, 7-9) — The Jacks road winless streak in Summit League play reached 16 with the loss at North Dakota State Tuesday night. SDSU plays at Cal Poly Saturday before concluding the regular season with road games at Oral Roberts and Centenary. The Jacks will likely have to win at least one of those road games to get in the conference tournament, but could back in with a pair of losses. Sophomore Dale Moss has started the last two games and averaged 21 points a game.
7. Western Illinois (9-17, 6-9) — The Leathernecks win at Centenary could prove to be what gets them in the conference tournament. WIU now has three home games left and could get in with one win, but may need two because of the tiebreaker situation. David DuBois scored 19 points in the win over Centenary after missing the Oral Roberts game due to injury. The Leathernecks nearly upset the Golden Eagles without DuBois before falling by three.
8. IPFW (10-15, 5-9) — The Mastodons loss to Oakland hurts, but they still control their own destiny. IPFW holds the tiebreaker over Centenary after sweeping the Gents this season and can complete a sweep of Western Illinois with a win Saturday. The win over Oral Roberts is also huge for tiebreakers purposes. David Carson scored 18 points in his final visit to Oakland, but shot 6-for-16 from the field.
9. Centenary (7-19, 5-9) — It was just three weeks ago that the Gents were the surprise team in the league, winners of four of their last five and 5-4 in the league. Centenary has since dropped five straight, including three at home, and are fighting to make the conference tournament. The trio of Nick Stallings, Gary Redus and Chase Adams continue to shoulder the load offensively with very little help from anyone else.
10. UMKC (6-21, 2-12) — The Roos have now lost eight in a row and 13 of their last 14. UMKC is now playing for pride and next season when it hosts Centenary and Oral Roberts this week. Hopefully senior guard Dane Brumagin, who did not make the Roos’ trip to the Dakotas last week because of a sore Achilles’, is healthy to play in the final home game of his career.

The opponent — IPFW (10-14, 5-8 Summit) won two home games last week to get back in the race to make the Summit League tournament. Eight of the 10 league members make the tournament and the Mastodons are currently tied for seventh place with Centenary and a half game ahead of Western Illinois.

Junior forward Deilvez Yearby, a transfer from Kansas State, is coming off his best game at IPFW. Yearby had 23 points, 10 rebounds and a school-record seven blocks in the Mastodons win over Oral Roberts. Yearby came off the bench, but played 36 minutes. Yearby is averaging 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds on the season, and his 1.8 blocks per game is second in the league behind Oakland’s Keith Benson (2.2 per game).

Senior David Carson leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game and in conference play is seventh in the league in scoring (16.3). The former Oakland player also averages 5.5 rebounds.

Sophomore sharpshooter Ben Botts is second on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game and averages 1.8 3-pointers per game. Junior Nick Daniels (8.1 points, 1.6 3-pointers), sophomore Zach Plackmeier (7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds) and Trey McCorkle (3.9 points) round out the starting lineup. Daniels leads the league in 3-point field goal percentage (47.4 percent).

Head coach Dane Fife is a Clarkston native and the son of legendary Clarkston High School coach Dan Fife. A large group of Clarkston fans attended last year’s IPFW game and a large contingent is expected again this season.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. IPFW’s Ben Botts. These two put on an offensive display in the last meeting between the two schools. Kangas hit a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 39 points and Botts tied his career-high with 22 points and hit a career-high five 3-pointers. Oakland will likely try to contain Botts, while IPFW will certainly try to limit Kangas’ open looks.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 7-3 and the Division I series is tied, 3-3. IPFW is 1-2 against the Golden Grizzlies since joining the Summit League last season. Oakland won the last meeting, 93-88, at IPFW back on Jan. 17. The two teams combined to hit 26 3-pointers and both shot over 58 percent from the field, including over 50 percent from 3-point range. Oakland’s Johnathon Jones had 20 points and eight assists and Will Hudson added 16 points and nine rebounds. Carson scored 21 points for IPFW, Daniels added 17 points and Plackmeier finished with 12 points.

“It was an offensive game,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “Both teams were making everything they shot. They scored 14 points in the last minute of the game, they were at 74 with a minute to go in the game on their floor. I think that final score is a little deceptive of how the game really went. We had a comfortable lead late in the game and they made some bombs. They did a nice job of a late game situation. ... We are looking at what hurt us and trying to make sure it doesn’t hurt us again.”

The skinny — Both schools are battling for position in the Summit League standings. Oakland is trying to distance itself from the rest of the pack and is two games ahead of IUPUI for third place and two games behind Oral Roberts for second place. IPFW is battling to make the conference tournament and a win over Oakland would really boost its chances.

The Grizzlies need to establish their inside game against the smaller Mastodons. McCorkle (6-foot-10) is the only IPFW player over 6-6 that is playing significant minutes. Benson, who is averaging 20 points a game in his last five games, had just nine points in the last meeting. Oakland will likely to try to go inside to Benson and Hudson early, which will open up things for the guards.

IPFW coach Dane Fife was in a bad mood after the home loss to Oakland earlier this season and will no doubt have his team motivated to win. Kampe said IPFW will be bringing a few buses full of fans like Oakland did to the game at IPFW. The Mastodons are the closest team in the Summit League to Oakland and a rivalry could be developing.

“I hope so,” said Kampe when asked if he thought it would develop into a rivalry. (IPFW) is the closest school to us in the league. It’s one I would like to see a real good rivalry develop because rivalries are important in college basketball and our league being so spread out it’s hard. Oral Roberts is a great rivalry, but nobody can get in a car and drive to Oral Roberts. We can get in a car and drive to Fort Wayne. We are travel partners so our games are always on Saturdays. I think it’s one that could really develop. I know the administrations of both schools would like to see that.”

Click here for a feature story on Johnathon Jones.

1. North Dakota State (18-5, 12-1 Summit) — It was a great week for the Bison, who have now won 10 straight. NDSU won two road games handily and its main competition for the league title, Oral Roberts, lost two games. The Bison won their two road games in two different ways. NDSU won a defensive struggle at Western Illinois, where the team shot just 38.8 percent and leading scorer Ben Woodside went 0-for-12 from the field and scored just seven points. NDSU followed that up by scoring 91 points at IUPUI, shooting 55.7 percent from the field and hitting 54.2 percent (13-for-24) of its 3-poitners. The Bison control their own destiny and have three of their five remaining league games at home.
2. Oral Roberts (11-13, 9-3) — The Golden Eagles may have let their chances at a fifth straight regular-season league title slip away last week. Oral Roberts had its nine-game win streak snapped by Oakland and then fell at IPFW. The Golden Eagles shot just 6-for-36 from 3-point range in the two losses, including 4-for-20 by Robert Jarvis. Oral Roberts shot just 33.3 percent from the field at IPFW and had just five assists. The Golden Eagles will try to rebound with two home games this week when they host Western Illinois and IUPUI.
3. Oakland (15-11, 8-5) — The Golden Grizzlies improved to 8-0 at home this season with double-digit victories over Oral Roberts and Centenary. Junior point guard Johnathon Jones had two double-doubles, averaging 15.5 points and 12.5 assists last week to earn Player of the Week honors. Jones now leads the nation in total assists with 183 and is fourth in the nation in assists per game (7.0). Sophomore center Keith Benson averaged 22.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks and senior guard Erik Kangas averaged 20 points a game last week. Kangas is now second in the nation in 3-pointers made (98) and fourth in 3-pointers per game (3.9).
4. IUPUI (13-11, 6-7) — The Jaguars, who allow a league best 62.8 points per game, gave up 91 points to NDSU and had their four-game win streak snapped. Junior Jon Avery is averaging 12 points and 6.3 rebounds in his last six games as a starter. Freshman Alex Young looks like he has hit the wall. He has failed to score in double figures in his last five games, averaging 4.6 points per game and has had his season average dip to 11.2 per game. The Jaguars have two road games this week and have by no means locked up a spot in the conference tournament.
5. Southern Utah (8-15, 6-6) — The Thunderbirds completed a sweep of UMKC and pulled to .500 in the league, good for fourth place. SUU had six players score in double figures led by 18 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and two steals from John Clifford. The Thunderbirds shot 91.2 percent from the free-throw line (31-for-34), 52.3 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point range. SUU now heads to the Dakotas this week.
6. Centenary (7-17, 5-7) — The Gents lost a pair of road games to fall from fourth place to sixth place and are just a half game ahead of IPFW, SDSU and Western Illinois. Centenary averaged 62 points a game and shot just 32.7 percent (37-for-113) from the field in its two losses last week. The trio of Nick Stallings, Chase Adams and Gary Redus combined to score 87 points in the two losses, while the rest of the team combined to score 37 points.
7. IPFW (10-14, 5-8) — The Mastodons quickly showed any doubters that they aren’t going to lay down and die. IPFW won two home games last week, topping second-place Oral Roberts and then fourth-place Centenary. Junior Deilvez Yearby had a career day against the Golden Eagles, scoring a career-high 23 points, blocking a school-record seven shots and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sophomore Zach Plackmeier also scored a career-high, finishing with 22 points on 6-for-8 shooting. IPFW now has three-straight on the road starting with Oakland on Saturday and then its final two at home.
8. South Dakota State (10-15, 5-8) — The Jacks just keep finding ways to lose league games on the road, falling by eight at IUPUI and then losing on a half-court shot at the buzzer by Josh Rivers at Western Illinois. SDSU led the Leathernecks 59-52 with 3:02 left, but didn’t score the rest of the way. Clint Sargent went in for the last shot with the game tied, but had his shot blocked by David DuBois and the ball bounced to Rivers who sunk the half-courter. This is a huge week for the Jacks, who host their final two home games of the season against Southern Utah and UMKC. SDSU plays at North Dakota State, Oral Roberts and Centenary in its final three conference games.
9. Western Illinois (8-16, 5-8) — The Leathernecks barely escaped with a win against SDSU and the victory could prove to be the one that gets them in the conference tournament should they make it. WIU still has a lot of work to do and it starts with two road games this week, at Oral Roberts and at Centenary. The Leathernecks will need Josh Rivers, who found his shot against SDSU, finishing with 15 points. Senior David DuBois averaged 20.5 points and eight rebounds last week.
10. UMKC (6-19, 2-10) — Stick a fork in the Kangaroos, who are three games behind everyone else with five games left. UMKC fell by 12 points at Southern Utah and have now lost six straight and 11 of its last 12. Senior Dane Brumagin, who is battling a sore Achilles’ tendon, played just five minutes in the loss. A good sign for UMKC’s future is sophomore Bakari Lewis scored 23 points and freshman Latreze Mushat added 16 points and five rebounds in the loss.

For the fourth straight week an Oakland player has won the Summit League Player of the Week award. This time it is junior point guard Johnathon Jones taking home the honors.

Jones averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 assists and 2.5 turnovers in wins over Oral Roberts and Centenary last week. Jones also made 11 of 12 free-throw attempts and shot over 60 percent from the field (8-for-13). It is the second time this season Jones has won the award. He won for the first time back on Nov. 24.

Sophomore center Keith Benson shared the weekly honor with IUPUI’s Robert Glenn last week. Senior guard Erik Kangas won it two weeks in a row prior to that (Jan. 19 and Jan. 26).

The opponent — Centenary (7-16, 5-6 Summit) enters Saturday’s game on a two-game losing streak. The Gents, who won four of five before losing their last two, are a tough team to figure out. Centenary’s 64.8 points per game in league play currently ranks sixth in the league, but the Gents have shown they can go off for 80 or more points on any given night.

Part of the reason the Gents are so unpredictable is they are very dependent on the 3-point shot. Centenary leads the league in 3-pointers, averaging 7.8 per game and are averaging 8.3 in league play.

Nick Stallings (16.4 points and 6.2 rebounds) and Chase Adams (14.5 points and 4.6 assists) both average over two 3-pointers a game for the Gents.

Centenary has six players who have hit 10 or more 3-pointers this year and average 21.9 attempts a game. The Gents also lead the league in steals, averaging 9.0 a game led by Adams’ 2.7 per game.

Centenary likes to go with a small starting lineup with just one player over 6-foot-6. The Gents start Stallings (6-1), Adams (5-10), Gary Redus (6-6), Maxx Nakwaasah (6-1) and Jerrald Bonham (6-8).

Redus averages 10.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals. Nakwaassah averages 4.4 points and 2.0 rebounds, but has averaged 9.6 points a game since being inserted in the starting lineup five games ago. Bonham has started all 23 games for the Gents and is averaging 3.1 points and 3.0 rebounds. Senior Lance Hill (6-7) may see more minutes against Oakland and is averaging 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 16.3 minutes per game.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Centenary’s Nick Stallings. In Oakland’s 80-60 loss at Centenary, Kangas scored 15 points, but was 4-for-14 from the field. Stallings had 26 points and shot 11-for-20 from the field. Stallings also shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range for the Gents, who shot 11-for-19 as a team. Oakland is 10-2 this season when Kangas is the team’s leading scorer and 8-1 when he scores 20 or more. Kangas has been especially deadly at home averaging 21.7 points a game, for the Grizzlies who are 6-0 in the O'Rena this season. Containing Stallings has to be a priority for Oakland. Stallings had 20 of his 26 points in the first half against Oakland and the Gents outscored Oakland 45-24 in the first half. Stallings scored just six points in the second half and Oakland outscored the Gents 36-35.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 8-3. The Gents win on Jan. 8 snapped the Grizzlies’ five-game winning streak against Centenary. The Gents shot 52.5 percent from the field in the 80-60 win and 57.9 percent from 3-point range. Oakland meanwhile shot just 33.3 percent and 10.5 percent from 3-point range (2-for-19). Keith Benson had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Johnathon Jones had 13 points, three assists and five turnovers. Chase Adams scored 17 points off the bench and hit five 3-pointers, Nakwaasah had 10 points off the bench and Redus scored 14 points off the bench. The entire trio was inserted into the starting lineup two games later and have started the Gents’ last five games.

The skinny — Oakland is coming off a big win over Oral Roberts and can’t afford a letdown against Centenary. If the Grizzlies hope to build some momentum in the month of February they can start by avenging an embarrassing 20-point loss to the Gents. If Oakland plays like it did against the Golden Eagles on Thursday then there is likely not a team in the Summit League that can beat them.

A key to the game will be if Centenary is forced to adjust to Oakland’s height with Benson and Will Hudson or if the Grizzlies are forced to adjust to the Gents’ speed and outside shooting. Oakland should try to go to its big men early and force Centenary to adjust.

Oakland started off the important month of February with a quality win over four-time defending Summit League champion Oral Roberts. The Golden Grizzlies showed they are not about to lay down despite being out of the regular-season league race and beat a team that is fighting for a league championship.

Bench comes up big
One of the big factors in the game was the production of Oakland’s bench. Senior Dan Waterstradt (10 points, five rebounds and two blocks) and freshman Blake Cushingberry (eight points, five rebounds and two assists) played quality minutes, and were a big part of Oakland’s inspired defensive play.

It was Waterstradt’s first game in double figures since the Grizzlies lost to Oral Roberts in overtime on Jan. 10. The senior had just five points combined (all in the Western Illinois game) in Oakland’s last five games. He suffered an injury in the first Oral Roberts game that may or may not have been bothering him, but having him providing energy and spreading the defense with his outside shot is huge. Other teams are not used to having to guard Oakland’s big men on the perimeter so having Waterstradt hitting from outside is huge. I remember hearing Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton shouting instructions to guard Waterstradt on the perimeter to his players during Thursday’s game.

Cushingberry two 3-pointers late in the second half were huge and might get him going offensively. If Cushingberry can come off the bench and contribute offensively than Oakland can be a dangerous team. The freshman also played solid defense and coach Greg Kampe commented that Cushingberry’s defense was why he played 31 minutes.

“This was a game that we had to win at the defensive end," Kampe said. "That’s why you saw Waterstradt play more and Cushingberry play more. We really believed that we were going to win at the defensive end, and for a while it looked like we were playing no defense. That’s why Drew (Maynard) didn’t play as much. He’ll be in the starting lineup Saturday, he’ll play 25-30 minutes, and he’ll bounce back.”

Offensive juggernaut
Oral Roberts had not allowed a team to score over 80 points since No. 3 North Carolina scored 100 on Dec. 13. The Grizzlies snapped that 13-game streak by scoring 81 points and shot 56.1 percent from the field.

In league play Oakland is averaging 76 points a game, tops in the league. Keith Benson (19 points) and Johnathon Jones (17 points, 13 assists) combined to shoot 15-for-18 from the field, while senior Erik Kangas led the balanced effort with 21 points.

“That’s what our team is built around,” Jones said of the team effort. “We’ve got so many guys that can step up in key moments. Cushingberry stepped up and hit two big 3s, Kangas was himself like he is every game. Benson on the inside, and Will – but the person that really stepped up today was (Dan) Waterstradt. He hit some key baskets. You look for him to rebound, and he did. He got some key rebounds for us and really brought the energy for our team tonight.”

Sutton said he thought his team lost the game on the defensive end. “The game wasn’t lost on the offensive end,” Sutton said. “We aren’t averaging a whole lot of points. The game was lost defensively. I’m not sure when the last time we gave up 81 points was. Tonight we shot close to 39 percent, they shot 56. I think normally teams are averaging 62 points against us, and tonight they got 81. That was the difference for us.”

Home-court advantage
Oakland improves to 7-0 at home with the victory Thursday night and have four home games remaining, starting with Centenary on Saturday. The victory also allows Oakland to split with the two teams that will likely finish at the top of the league in Oral Roberts and North Dakota State.

“It was huge," Kangas said of beating Oral Roberts. "I’ve only beaten these guys once in my career. We don’t want to lose at home this year, that’s one thing we really want to accomplish. It’s good for our confidence, too, because we know going into the tournament that we can beat these guys.”

Quote to note
“I thought (Oakland) was terrific tonight. Offensively they played a really great game. I thought they played like a team that had more to play for, which really disappoints me. We are sitting here basically in first place and I thought our guys didn’t play with the passion and the intensity our teams normally play with. I give Oakland a lot of credit. We didn’t do a good job defensively and they made us pay." — Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland junior Larry Wright and head coach Greg Kampe.

For my preview in today's paper click here.

The opponent — Oral Roberts (11-11, 9-1 Summit) rides into Oakland on an eight-game winning streak and have not lost in 2009. The Golden Eagles have won the eight games by an average of 17 points, with the closest game being a three-point overtime win over Oakland. Oral Roberts has won four-straight regular-season league titles and three-straight conference tournaments.

Senior guard Robert Jarvis is the Golden Eagles leading scorer at 17.1 points per game. He also leads the team in field goal attempts and by a wide margin, 133. He shoots 38.9 percent from the field, but is always a threat to go off and is not afraid to keep shooting until he finds his shot.

Senior Marcus Lewis (6-foot-8) leads a potent Oral Roberts frontcourt. Lewis averages 13.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and leads the team in assists with 50. Lewis was a role player last season after transferring in from Portland. He averaged 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds, and was named to the Summit League all-newcomer team. He shed 40 pounds in the offseason to get in better shape and it has paid off. He is averaging 16.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists, while shooting 63.5 percent from the field in his last 11 games.

Junior Kevin Ford, who transferred in from Ball State, has made a huge impact since becoming eligible back on Dec. 13. Ford is averaging 9.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, and the Golden Eagles are 9-5 since he became eligible.

Ford is just one newcomer making an impact. The freshman class of foward Dominique Morrison (9.4 points, 3.0 rebounds), guard Kyron Stokes (6.8 points, 4.1 rebounds) and guard Beloved Rogers (2.7 points, 1.0 rebounds) have all contributed. Morrison has started all 22 games, Stokes has started nine games and Rogers is a solid 3-point shooter off the bench.

Andre Hardy (7.9 points and 6.0 rebounds) is a solid inside presence off the bench, while Kelvin Sango (4.0 points) is a solid defender, who has started 13 games including all eight during Oral Roberts win streak.

During league play Oral Roberts leads the conference in scoring defense (61.7 per game), scoring margin (+13.7), field-goal percent defense (39.2 percent), offensive field-goal percentage (49.3 percent), offensive rebounds (12.0 per game) and rebounding margin (+7.6).

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson and Will Hudson vs. ORU’s Lewis and Ford. The matchup between Johnathon Jones and Robert Jarvis is no doubt huge, but this game will likely be won inside the paint. Benson and Hudson have stepped up their games tremendously this past few weeks, but Lewis and Ford will present the biggest challenge they will face in the Summit League. The game could come down to one or two possessions so every rebound will be critical. Benson leads the league in rebounding during league play, averaging 8.6 per game, while Lewis is sixth (7.7 per game) and Ford is eighth (7.3). Benson and Hudson also have to be careful not to get into foul trouble, especially with Oakland’s short bench. In the first meeting, Benson had 14 points, while Hudson had four off the bench. Lewis had 17 points (all in the second half and overtime) and 11 rebounds, while Ford had seven points and seven rebounds.

Matchup history — Oral Roberts leads the all-time series 16-7 and has won the last four. Oakland is 5-5 all-time at home against the Golden Eagles, but has lost four of its last five at home to Oral Roberts. The Golden Eagles defeated Oakland, 68-65, in overtime back on Jan. 10. Jarvis had 17 points, while Stokes scored 11 off the bench. Jones had 16 points and seven assists before fouling out 12 seconds into overtime, while Erik Kangas had 20 points and Dan Waterstradt scored 11 points. The two teams have combined to win the last four conference tournamets, Oakland in 2005 and Oral Roberts in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Grizzlies and Golden Eagles have met twice in the tournament championship game, with Oakland winning in 2005 and Oral Roberts in 2007.

The skinny — Oakland is coming off a pair of tough road losses and should be hungry to get a victory against rival Oral Roberts. The Grizzlies are 6-0 at home this season, winning by an average of 17.8 points. That number is a little deceiving considering Oakland beat Western Illinois by 40 and Rochester College at 34, but Oakland has been tough at home.

Oakland freshman Drew Maynard and Blake Cushingberry failed to score against Oral Roberts earlier this season, but have played much better at home. Maynard is averaging 11.2 points per game at home.

Kangas cooled off a little bit last week, but still averaged 15 points and shot 7-for-22 from 3-point range. He has shown all season he can go off at any point and Oral Roberts will certainly key in on him. Benson and Hudson can relieve some pressure off Kangas if they get going early and Jones admitted the inside game has become more of a weapon as of late.

“At first, at the beginning of the season they were like our second option,” Jones said. “Now when we start games they are our first option. With them playing so well it opens up the guard play, it opens our driving lanes and Kangas gets more open shots. They are playing really well right now. I think in the last couple games, they have both been in double digit scoring and rebounding so that’s huge for us.”

Illija Milutinovic returned to practice for the first time Tuesday. He looked a little rusty and Oakland coach Greg Kampe said he has to get his conditioning back to where it was before he got hurt. Kampe discusses Milutinovic on the next episode of Grizz Talk so look out for that.

The ESPN bracketbusters pairing were announced yesterday and North Dakota State will play at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and South Dakota State will play at Cal Poly. Neither will be a televised game.

Now I know Oral Roberts has participated in this before and now NDSU and SDSU are this year. The question is how do teams get picked? When will Oakland get a chance? What about IUPUI, which won 26 games last year? Why all of a sudden is Oral Roberts, the three-time defending champion, no longer involved? I don’t have an answer, but I sure hope it’s not because the Summit League won’t accommodate the organizers of the bracketbusters.

Teams don’t want to play three games in a week during the conference season so it appears NDSU and SDSU were picked because they play just one game the week of bracketbusters this season. No I don’t know if the Summit League planned it that way or it just happened to work out that way. The answer doesn’t really matter because the league should be offering all of its teams for this. The entire Mid-American Conference and Horizon League are part of this and accommodate it. So why not the entire Summit League? Now I know the organizers might not want the whole league, but I’m sure they would rather have Oral Roberts, IUPUI and Oakland than some of the teams involved.

The Summit League is unique because there is more travel involved, but the bracketbusters is a great opportunity because even if you don’t get a TV or home game, you are guaranteed a home game the following year with the team you go play. The Summit League needs to do whatever it can to have as many of its teams as possible in it, not just make two teams available. Maybe I’m off-base on this, but it’s just a thought I had when I looked at the RPI of some of the teams involved. I’m curious how other people feel about this?

Update: Looked into it a little further and the entire WAC, Metro Atlantic, Big West, Missouri Valley, Colonial and Ohio Valley participate in this. Teams with RPIs in the 300s like SE Missouri St. (333), Northern Illinois (331) and Eastern Michigan (330) are in it.

1. North Dakota State (16-5, 10-1 Summit) — The Bison picked up their first-ever win over Oakland thanks to a late run and then dominated IPFW last week. Senior Mike Nelson had a huge 21-point effort against the Grizzlies, his first 20-point game since Nov. 29, and played solid defense on Erik Kangas. Nelson followed that up with 10 points in 24 minutes against IPFW. NDSU has a big road trip this week to Western Illinois and IUPUI and might be able to gain some ground on Oral Roberts with a pair of wins.
2. Oral Roberts (11-11, 9-1) — The Golden Eagles remain undefeated in 2009 and their victory at Centenary was their eighth straight. The Gents had no answer for Marcus Lewis, who had 21 points on 10-for-14 shooting. Lewis is 21-for-27 from the field in his last two games. The Golden Eagles are now .500 for the first time since the second game of the regular season. Oral Roberts remains in the hunt for its fifth-straight regular-season league title and have two big road games this week, at Oakland and at IPFW.
3. Oakland (13-11, 6-5) — It was not a good week for the Golden Grizzlies, who were swept on their trip to the Dakotas. Oakland was tied 64-64 with North Dakota State with less than six minutes left before the Bison went on a 13-0 run to earn their first-ever win over Oakland. The Grizzlies then blew a 17-point second half lead at South Dakota State and fell in overtime. Oakland’s big men continued their hot play. Sophomore Keith Benson broke the single-season school record for blocks and averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game last week and shot 14-for-17 from the field. Sophomore Will Hudson averaged 14 points and 5.5 rebounds, and shot 12-for-15 from the field.
4. Centenary (7-15, 5-5) — The Gents 71 points against Oral Roberts broke the Golden Eagles’ nine-game streak of holding opponents under 70 points, but the Gents still lost their 12th straight to Oral Roberts. The loss also snapped Centenary’s four-game winning streak. Leading scorer Nick Stallings (16.4 per game) scored just five points in the loss to ORU. Sophomore Gary Redus scored a career-high 23 points in the game, his first 20-point game since he scored 21 against Troy back on Nov. 20.
5. IUPUI (12-10, 5-6) — The Jaguars picked up a pair of road victories last week and have now won three-straight to pull themselves out of the league cellar. IUPUI is currently in a three-way tie for fifth place and has two home games this week. The Jaguars won easily at Southern Utah, which is typically a tough place to win, but the Jaguars have won six of their last seven trips there. Junior Robert Glenn is averaging 19 points and 7.3 rebounds during IUPUI’s three-game win streak.
6. South Dakota State (10-13, 5-6) — The Jacks protected their homecourt nicely last week with a pair of wins. SDSU rallied from 17 down in the second half to beat Oakland in overtime. It was the Jacks third overtime game in their last four, but their first overtime victory. Junior Kai Williams became the first SDSU player to score 1,000 points all at the Division I level with his 15 points against Oakland Saturday. Garrett Callahan is just 45 points away from becoming the second player to do so. SDSU hits the road this week still looking for its first Summit League road victory in school history.
7. Southern Utah (7-15, 5-6) — The Thunderbirds split a pair of home games last week. SUU led by as many as 15 in the second half against Western Illinois, but had to hold on late to win by one. Dave Marek hit all seven of his 3-point attempts against IUPUI and finished with 23 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Thunderbirds fell by 14. SUU hosts UMKC Saturday, but then plays four of its last six on the road.
8. Western Illinois (7-15, 4-7) — The Leathernecks snapped their six-game losing streak with a wild win at UMKC. WIU trailed by four with 42 seconds left, but UMKC committed four turnovers and the Leathernecks capitalized on each one to win by five, 56-51. WIU almost stole a second one at Southern Utah, but David DuBois missed a shot at the buzzer. It would have been the Leathernecks first win in Cedar City, they are now 0-12 all-time. WIU leads IPFW by one-game for the final conference tournament spot and host two home games this week.
9. IPFW (8-14, 3-8) — The trip to the Dakotas did not go well for the Mastodons. IPFW fell at South Dakota State by six, the same team it beat by 34 at home. The Mastodons then got embarrassed by 31 at North Dakota State and scored just 43 points, with senior David Carson scoring 22 of them. IPFW hosts two league games this week against Centenary and Oral Roberts and likely needs at least one win to stay in the conference tournament hunt.
10. UMKC (6-18, 2-9) — The Kangaroos are in disarray. UMKC lost second-leading scorer Reggie Hamilton, who asked to be released from his scholarship last week and was granted his request. Leading scorer Dane Brumagin missed both games last week with a sore Achilles’ heel. The Kangaroos somehow turned a four-point lead with 42 seconds against Western Illinois into a five-point loss. UMKC has lost five straight and now have three-straight road games and five of its last seven are on the road.