2023 Summit League Tournament Day 2 Recap

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Skyler Jackson, Co-Sports Editor (He/Him)

Day two of the Summit League Tournament is complete and it featured a total of four quarterfinal games, two on the women’s side and two on the men’s. Here’s a look at what happened in all of Saturday’s games at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

WOMEN’S

QUARTERFINAL GAME #1

No. 1 South Dakota State 87, No. 8 St. Thomas 59

The Jackrabbits got off to a slow start against St. Thomas, turning the ball over seven times and trailing by four at the end of the first quarter. SDSU then dominated the rest of the way and cruised to a 28-point victory. The Jacks shot 57.6% from the field and scored 56 points in the paint. Myah Selland led SDSU with 15 points and eight rebounds and Paige Meyer added 14 points. Jordyn Glynn led the Tommies in points and rebounds with 18 and 10 respectively. Jo Langbehn added 16 points. The Jacks will face either No. 4 South Dakota or No. 5 Oral Roberts in the semifinals.

QUARTERFINAL GAME #2

No. 10 Kansas City 71, No. 2 North Dakota State 64

While the first women’s quarterfinal game didn’t have a surprising result, the second one did. Kansas City pulled off the upset and beat the No. 2 seed Bison by seven. The Roos led wire to wire and even led by as much as 17 midway through the third quarter. The Bison battled back and cut the lead to three with over two minutes left in the game. But Kansas City made clutch free throws down the stretch to clinch the win. Manna Mensah led the Ross with 25 points and four assists and E’Lease Stafford chipped in 17 points. For the Bison, Heaven Hamling scored 16 points and added five assists. Elle Evans scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Kansas City will play the winner of No. 3 North Dakota and No. 6 Omaha in the semifinals.

MEN’S

QUARTERFINAL GAME #1

No. 1 Oral Roberts 96, No. 9 North Dakota 80

The top-seeded Golden Eagles cruised to a 16-point win and are headed to the semifinals for the fourth-straight year. ORU led wire to wire and never let the Fighting Hawks get into the game. The Golden Eagles got off to a hot start, leading 27-11 midway through the first half. By halftime, they led 56-31. At that point, the game was pretty much put out of reach. The closest the Fighting Hawks got in the second half was within 16. Carlos Jurgens led the Golden Eagles with 21 points on 8-12 shooting. Connor Vanover had 19 points, Kareem Thompson had 15, and Summit League Player of the Year Max Abmas had 14. For UND, B.J. Omot led with 15 points and Tsotne Tsartsidze added 11.

QUARTERFINAL GAME #2

No. 2 South Dakota State 63, No. 10 Omaha 55

The last quarterfinal game of the day nearly featured another No. 10 pulling an upset. But the Jackrabbits were able to squeak out a hard-fought eight-point win. The first half was a back-and-forth contest with both teams trading buckets. In that first half, the Mavericks shot 9-of-16 from three, including five threes from Jaeden Marshall. The Jacks took a 40-39 lead into halftime. From there, the scoring pace slowed down with both teams shooting a combined 11-for-60 in the second half. But the Jacks prevailed largely due to clutch free throws and defense down the stretch. Alex Arians led the Jacks in scoring with 18 points. Zeke Mayo struggled shooting the ball but finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Marshall led the Mavs in scoring with 19 points, all coming in the first half. Frankie Fidler added 11 points and 12 rebounds. The Jacks will play either No. 3 NDSU or No. 6 USD in Monday’s semifinals.