North Dakota State Takes Top Seed Into Summit League Championship

Eight-team tournament begins Saturday, March 7, in Sioux Falls, S.D.

ELMHURST, Ill. – The Summit League’s regular season concluded Saturday and league champion North Dakota State will enter its first men’s basketball championship as the top seed. The 2009 Summit League Basketball Championship begins Saturday, March 7 and continues through the championship game, which determines the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, on Tuesday, March 10. Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls, S.D., is hosting the eight-team event for the first time.

The Bison (23-6, 16-2 Summit) claimed the outright title Saturday and will meet eighth-seeded Centenary (8-22, 6-12) in the first quarterfinal game at 6 p.m. on March 7. Following that game will be No. 2 seed Oral Roberts (16-14, 14-4) vs. No. 7 South Dakota State (12-19, 7-11) at 8:30 p.m. Sunday’s quarterfinal matchups pit No. 4 IUPUI (16-13, 9-9) vs. No. 5 Southern Utah (10-19, 8-10) at 6 p.m. followed by No. 3 Oakland (20-11, 13-5) and No. 6 IPFW (13-16, 8-10) at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday’s quarterfinal winners will meet in the first semifinal Monday at 6 p.m. while Sunday’s winners advance to the second semifinal Monday at 8:30 p.m. Both semifinal games will air on Metro Sports (Kansas City), ESPN Full Court, and ESPN360.

Tuesday’s championship game, a 7 p.m. tipoff, will air on ESPN2 and will make history as the first nationally televised sporting event originating from the state of South Dakota.

This season marks the first year that the tournament will be held in Sioux Falls. By mid-February, ticket sales had reached record totals with over 3,200 all-session tickets sold, more than double The Summit League’s previous mark set at the 2005 tournament in Tulsa, Okla.

NDSU, who tied a Summit League record with 16 league victories this season, is led by the league’s leading scorer, Ben Woodside (23.0 ppg) and Brett Winkelman, who ranks third in both scoring (18.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.3). The Bison led the league in scoring by averaging 81.3 points per game and have won 15 of their last 16 games, including Saturday’s win at Oral Roberts that snapped the nation’s longest league home winning streak at 35 games.

Oral Roberts, the league’s best rebounding time this season, is the three-time defending tournament champion. The Golden Eagles, selected as the Summit League’s preseason favorite, are led by guard Robert Jarvis (17.4 ppg) and forward Marcus Lewis (13.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg).

Third-seeded Oakland enters the tournament with the league’s longest win streak (seven) and features three league-leaders. Point guard Johnathon Jones has 241 assists (7.8 per game) to lead the Summit League and rank among the national leaders while Erik Kangas set a league record with 119 three-point field goals and center Keith Benson is tops with 75 blocked shots (2.4 per game) this season.

IUPUI’s Jon Avery owns the Summit League’s best field goal percentage at .677 and will lead the fourth-seeded Jaguars against No.5 Southern Utah, who boasts league-leading rebounder John Clifford (8.2 rpg).

IPFW, seeded sixth, finished second in the league in three-point shooting percentage and carries a three-game win streak into its matchup against Oakland. The Mastodons have the league’s top three-point shooter in Nick Daniels (.495) and free throw shooter in Ben Botts (.913).

The No. 7 seed, South Dakota State, is making its first Summit League Championship appearance. The Jackrabbits rank fourth in The Summit League in scoring and are led by Garrett Callahan (15.6 ppg), the league’s seventh-highest individual scorer.

Centenary enters the tournament as the eight seed after a Saturday victory over SDSU clinched the final spot. The Gents started the league schedule strong with a 5-4 and are led by Chase Adams, the league-leader in steals.

Tickets for the 2009 Summit League Basketball Championship can be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or in person at the Sioux Falls Arena Box Office.

All men’s quarterfinal and semifinal games can be seen online through SummitTV live streaming. For $4.95 fans can purchase individual games or for $19.95 view both the men’s and women’s tournament quarterfinal and semifinal action.

Summit League Pairings
#1 NDSU vs #8 Centenary (Saturday, March 7 at 6:00)
#2 Oral Roberts vs #7 SDSU (Saturday, March 7 at 8:30)
#4 IUPUI vs #5 Southern Utah (Sunday, March 8 at 6:00)
#3 Oakland vs #6 IPFW (Sunday March 8 at 8:30)
*Courtesy: Summit League