South Dakota State won for the seventh straight game, using stingy defense to cruise past Kansas City 73-50 on Thursday night at Frost Arena.
With the win, the SDSU men improve to 18-11 and 13-4 in Summit League play.
The Jackrabbits shot 56.6 percent on the night, while they used physical and pestering defense to hold UMKC (11-19, 7-10) to a mere 32.8 percent shooting effort. Despite good size in the paint, the Kangaroos had difficulty getting inside against the Jacks, and even more difficulty finishing when they did. That forced them to spend much of their time outside the arc, and the shots weren't falling from there. UMKC went 7-of-29 on 3-pointers (24 percent).
Matt Dentlinger had 16 points to lead the Jackrabbits, while Zeke Mayo had 13 points, six assists and five rebounds. William Kyle and Alex Arians had 12 points each.
SDSU had a 42-20 edge in points in the paint, had a 34-29 edge on the glass and went 7-of-17 on 3-pointers.
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The win sets up a showdown with Oral Roberts on Saturday at Frost. The Golden Eagles are one win away from becoming the second men's team in Summit League history to go undefeated in conference play - after SDSU was the first last year. ORU won the first meeting between the teams 79-40.
ORAL ROBERTS 82, SOUTH DAKOTA 70 in Vermillion - The Coyotes played the first-place Golden Eagles much, much tougher than in their first meeting. It still wasn't nearly enough.
USD fell behind 11-0 to start the game and spent the rest of the night playing from behind, ultimately dropping their fifth straight game, while ORU won their 17th game in a row. The first time the teams played, ORU beat USD 103-53.
Coyotes coach Eric Peterson benched usual starters A.J. Plitzuweit, Tasos Kamateros and Kruz Perrott-Hunt to start the game due to an undisclosed violation of team rules. They were inserted after the Coyotes fell behind 11-0, and they ended up playing most of the game. Kamateros had 20 points and nine rebounds, Plitzuweit had 16 points and Perrott-Hunt 14.
Connor Vanover, ORU's 7-foot-5 center, led the Golden Eagles with 19 points and nine rebounds while Max Abmas had 18 points, Kareem Thompson 16 and Carlos Jurgens 15 points and 10 rebounds.
USD falls to 11-18 and 6-11 in the Summit League. ORU (26-4, 17-0) will look to complete the perfect conference season Saturday in Brookings when they take on South Dakota State.
WOMEN
SOUTH DAKOTA 77, ORAL ROBERTS 63 in Tulsa - The Coyotes picked up a key road win to improve to 9-8 in Summit League play, giving them sole possession of fourth place in the Summit League with one game to go.
Grace Larkins led the way with another outstanding effort for USD (13-15), tallying 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocked shots. She was 8-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from outside the arc. USD shot 49 percent from the floor and made half their 3-pointers (13-of-26) while holding the Golden Eagles (11-17, 8-9) to 38 percent shooting.
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Carley Duffney had 16 points and six rebounds for USD, while Morgan Hansen added 11 points and Macy Guebert nine.
Tirzah Moore had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles, who host SDSU on Saturday. USD closes out the regular season at Kansas City.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 86, KANSAS CITY 52 in Kansas City - Leading by 17 at halftime, the Jackrabbits outscored UMKC 26-7 in the third quarter to turn things into a rout on their way to their 17th consecutive victory.
South Dakota State shot 55 percent from the field with four players scoring in double figures. Haleigh Timmer had 19 points to lead the Jacks (24-5, 17-0), while Myah Selland added 17 points, Paiton Burckhard 14 and Kallie Theisen 10.
Manna Mensah had 15 points to lead the Kangaroos (7-21, 3-14) who lost their seventh in a row.
SDSU finishes the regular season Saturday at Oral Roberts, where they'll look to secure their second undefeated season in conference play in the last three years.
