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 Fourth-seeded Oral Roberts fends off second-half charge by NDSU to capture title (Photo: SUM)
Fourth-seeded Oral Roberts fends off second-half charge by NDSU to capture title - Mar 12, 2021 
Fourth-seeded Oral Roberts fended off a fierce rally by third-seeded North Dakota State to win its first Summit League Men's Basketball Championship since 2008 with a 75-72 victory Tuesday at the Sanford Pentagon. The Golden Eagles boast the highest-scoring duo in Division I basketball and Max Abmas (6'1''-G) and Kevin Obanor (6'8''-F) showed why in leading their team to its fourth tournament title in program history.Abmas finished with 23 points and his free throw with 15 seconds to play plus a block by Francis Lacis (6'7''-F-99) on a potential game-winning basket by NDSU's Sam Griesel ended up being the difference in a game that saw the Golden Eagles nearly let a 25-point halftime lead slip away. ORU never relinquished the lead, but NDSU senior Rocky Kreuser, who poured in a career-high 34 points evened things at 72-72 with 36 seconds to play. The senior captain made another driving layup and scored 23 of those points after the break when the Bison rumbled back by outscoring the Golden Eagles 52-30. In the first half, it was all Oral Roberts, however, especially Obanor who had six first-half field goals in the opening 14 minutes of the game, which was one fewer than the Bison made as a team in the opening 20 minutes. After NDSU briefly pulled ahead at 10-9, the all-league first teamer would score 13 of the Golden Eagles' next 16 points during a four-minute span that saw the Bison get just two points. Obanor had accounted for 17 first-half points by the time he went to the bench with a couple of personal fouls at the 6:50 mark. It was the third straight game of the tournament where he was saddled in foul trouble in the opening half, but in the first two games, he had combined for just three points. Obanor's teammates kept up the scoring pace this time and had the Bison trailing by their largest halftime deficit of the season at 45-20. Abmas added 10 first-half points and the Golden Eagles connected on seven 3-pointers while shooting 51.5 percent from the floor. The two-time defending champs surged out of the break and had the deficit down to 11 at the midway point of the half. Kreuser and company kept charging and had the game all square before ORU used some late-game heroics for the second night in a row. The Golden Eagles will find out who their opponent will be for their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 years on Sunday, March 14 at 5 p.m. CT on CBS. Turning Point Oral Roberts forward Francis Lacis blocked a potential go-ahead basket by NDSU in the closing seconds Inside the Box Score Abmas scored 20-plus points for the 11th time in his last 12 games -- that streak ended in the semifinals vs. SDSU when he was held to 18 NDSU's 20 first-half points were a season low The Bison went 18-for-32 from the field in the second half after starting just 7-for-32 in the first half Kreuser had 23 of his career-high 34 during NDSU's comeback attempt News & Notes This is the third time in the last five years that the No. 4 seed has won The Summit League Championship Sophomore Max Abmas became the first Summit League player to earn Player of the Year and Championship MVP in the same season since South Dakota State's Mike Daum in 2018 NDSU won the trophy last year by 36 points, which was the largest margin of victory in tournament title game history -- the Bison led at the half by 29 in that one and trailed by 25 in this one ORU's last title in 2008 was the final one during a run of three straight for the Golden Eagles and tonight's title prevented NDSU from becoming the second team to achieve that feat since then (SDSU; 2016-18) Courtesy of thesummitleague.org Summit League Tournament Final: Oral Roberts - North Dakota State 75-72 Summit League Tournament Semifinals: Oral Roberts - South Dakota State 90-88 North Dakota State - South Dakota 79-75 All-Summit League Awards 2021 - Mar 12, 2021
All-Tournament MVP: Max Abmas (6'1''-G) of Oral Roberts Player of the Year: Max Abmas (6'1''-G) of Oral Roberts Defensive Player of the Year: Brandon McKissic (6'3''-G) of Kansas City Freshman of the Year: Tyree Ihenacho (6'4''-G) of North Dakota Newcomer of the Year: AJ Plitzuweit (6'2''-G) of South Dakota Sixth Man of the Year: Grant Nelson (6'10''-F) of North Dakota State Coach of the Year: Todd Lee of South Dakota
1st Team Max Abmas (6'1''-G) of Oral Roberts Rocky Kreuser (6'9''-F) of North Dakota State Kevin Obanor (6'8''-F) of Oral Roberts AJ Plitzuweit (6'2''-G) of South Dakota Baylor Scheierman (6'6''-G-00) of South Dakota State Stanley Umude (6'6''-G) of South Dakota
2nd Team Will Carius (6'7''-F) of Western Illinois Sam Griesel (6'6''-G/F-00) of North Dakota State Brandon McKissic (6'3''-G) of Kansas City Filip Rebraca (6'9''-F) of North Dakota Douglas Wilson (6'7''-F-99) of South Dakota State
Honorable Mention Josiah Allick (6'8''-F-01) of Kansas City Xavier Fuller (6'4''-G) of South Dakota Matt Pile (6'8''-F-99) of Omaha Marlon Ruffin (6'5''-G/F-99) of Omaha Jase Townsend (6'3''-G-00) of Denver
All-Newcomer Team Will Carius (6'7''-F) of Western Illinois RJ Glasper (6'0''-PG-98) of Oral Roberts Tyree Ihenacho (6'4''-G) of North Dakota Grant Nelson (6'10''-F) of North Dakota State AJ Plitzuweit (6'2''-G) of South Dakota
All-Tournament Team Max Abmas (6'1''-G) of Oral Roberts Kevin Obanor (6'8''-F) of Oral Roberts Tyree Eady (6'6''-G) of North Dakota State Rocky Kreuser (6'9''-F) of North Dakota State Stanley Umude (6'6''-G) of South Dakota |
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