Daum, SDSU drop Oral Roberts 84-65

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BROOKINGS – Mike Daum regained his rhythm in a 37-point outing and the South Dakota State men’s basketball team got off to a quick start in an 84-65 Summit League defeat of Oral Roberts before a Lamb Bonanza gathering of 3,680 Saturday evening at Frost Arena.

Daum and the Jackrabbits torched the Golden Eagles’ zone early on, building a 30-9 advantage midway through the opening stanza – half the points came in the paint and the other half on 3-pointers.

Daum broke down the interior of the zone with lane flashes, scoring 12 points, while David Jenkins knocked down three treys and Skyler Flatten added a 3-ball and a dunk in transition to highlight the spurt.

“It was a good effort by our guys; they came out, I thought, with great energy and enthusiasm in front of an awesome crowd – probably the best crowd we’ve had all year,” said SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “I loved the energy in the gym and I think our guys rose to the occasion with the atmosphere and environment.

“As a coach you’re always going to try to find things that you need to get better at – I would have loved for our execution and ball movement late in the game to be as strong as it was early, but that wasn’t the case. But anyway, great team win; great to see Mike Daum have a big night.”

Daum matched his combined point total from the previous two games – 14 – in the first 12 minutes versus ORU.

“I felt like tonight my mindset was more aggressive than I have been,” said Daum, who is averaging 23.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. “For me, personally, I feel fouls have kind of hindered my rhythm. In games I feel like I’d go in the first stretch and then have to come out just because of a couple dumb fouls on my part. So for me tonight, I think just being aggressive and going at it just kind of felt good to get back in a rhythm.”

He had 20 points at halftime with SDSU leading 51-34.

Daum finished 13-of-24 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from deep, and 8-of-9 at the foul line while adding eight rebounds in 38 minutes.

“It felt like their zone can make you very 3-point oriented and we wanted to really try to make a concerted effort to go into Mike and get him scoring the ball around the rim,” added Otzelberger. “Our guys did a great job finding him; Mike did a great job making plays; and that proved to probably be the key to us coming out with a victory.”

The all-time leading scorer in Summit League history had four points on 1-of-5 shooting in 23 minutes at South Dakota and 10 points on a 2-of-8 clip in 28 minutes versus Denver.

The Jackrabbits won both games handily, and the “slump” didn’t seem to bother Daum.

“Tonight it felt good; I felt like I finally kind of got back into a rhythm,” he added. “But first and foremost, our team is winning, that’s the main thing. For me each night, I just want to do whatever it takes to help this team win – whether it’s scoring or not scoring, passing, making an extra pass or just rebounding, I want to do whatever it takes to make sure that we keep on this winning streak.”

Jenkins, who went 5-of-14 on 3s, and Flatten added 15 points apiece Saturday.

Leading by 15, SDSU put the game away with an 8-0 spurt that saw Daum bury a trey and then score in the paint following a Tevin King offense rebound and Jenkins bury a 3-pointer that got the home crowd up off its feet and loud.

King had seven assists and eight steals. Alex Arians dished out nine dimes.

Oral Roberts’ Emmanuel Nzekwesi posted a double-double of 14 points and 18 rebounds. Carlos Jurgens had 14 points and DeShang Weaver 13.

The Golden Eagles (7-13, 3-2) play host to South Dakota on Thursday at 7 p.m.

South Dakota State (14-6, 4-1) travels to Grand Forks to face North Dakota on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Notes: Daum moved from tied for 26th to tied for 22nd in NCAA Division I history with 2,706 career points, passing New Orleans’ Bo McCalebb (2,679 from 2003-08), Xavier’s Byron Larkin (2,696 from 1984-88) and Lehigh’s Daren Queenan (2,703 from 1984-88). He is tied for 22nd with Campbell senior Chris Clemons (2,706 from 2015-present), who has 474 points through 16 games this season – a 29.6 average. … Jenkins has 936 points in 54 career games.  … Daum has 1,058 career rebounds … Otzelberger is 60-30 in his third season as the Jackrabbits’ head coach.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 84, ORAL ROBERTS 65

Oral Roberts (7-13, 3-2 Summit)

DeShang Weaver 5-12 0-0 13, Kerwin Smith 2-2 0-0 4, Francis Lacis 2-9 0-1 4, Emmanuel Nzekwesi 7-14 0-0 14, Kaelen Malone 1-3 0-0 3, Kevin Obanor 1-4 0-0 2, Carlos Jurgens 5-12 0-2 14, Aidan Saunders 2-5 3-4 7, Emir Ahmedic 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 27-63 3-7 65.

South Dakota State (14-6, 4-1 Summit)

Mike Daum 13-24 8-9 37, Skyler Flatten 5-9 2-4 15, Tevin King 2-4 0-1 4, David Jenkins 5-15 0-0 15, Alex Arians 2-5 1-2 5, Owen King 1-4 2-2 4, Matt Dentlinger 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 30-63 13-18 84.

Halftime – SDSU 51-34. 3-point goals – ORU 8-24 (Jurgens 4-10, Weaver 3-5, Malone 1-2, Nzekwesi 0-1 Lacis 0-6), SDSU 11-31 (Jenkins 5-14, Daum 3-6, Flatten 3-7, Arians 0-2, O. King 0-2). Rebounds – ORU 42 (Nzekwesi 18), SDSU 32 (Daum, Jenkins 8). Assists – ORU 9 (Jurgens 5), SDSU 21 (Arians 9). Steals – ORU 4 (Jurgens 2), SDSU 12 (King 8). Blocks – ORU 5 (Nzekwesi 3), SDSU 0. Turnovers – ORU 19, SDSU 9. Total fouls – ORU 18, SDSU 11. Fouled out – Smith. Technical fouls – none. A – 3,680.