Jackrabbits, Bison Clash for Summit League’s Top Spot

With a month to go before March's Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, two familiar foes are locked in a battle for conference superiority: South Dakota State and North Dakota State.  They play Saturday afternoon and a SDSU victory would tie the two teams at the top of the standings.

The Jackrabbits split a pair on the road last week.  Fort Wayne stopping SDSU's win streak at eight at a 84-74 win in Indiana.  Steve Forbes led the Mastodons with 23 points in 23 minutes, in a game Jacks head coach Scott Nagy says displayed a lack of sharpness from his team:

SDSU rebounded for a 63-56 win at IUPUI two days later, as the defense forced 20 turnovers.  Heading into the weekend, Coach Nagy was concerned about his team being flat in this game, but says the loss in Fort Wayne changed everything against the Jaguars:

Saturday at home, the Jackrabbits host a North Dakota State team that beat Denver in overtime Thursday night. The Bison won the first meeting with SDSU, 72-69, in Fargo last month. In that game a flat start saw the Jacks fall behind by as many as 21, before rallying to within a point in the final minute. Two things working in SDSU's favor in this meeting: home court advantage and six days off to prepare for NDSU. Coach Nagy on the layoff:

Tipoff is 4:00 PM Saturday in Brookings.