Bison Men Stay Perfect in Summit League, Beat IUPUI

Kabellis, Jacobson, Miller Lead Bison to 3-0 Conference Record

NDSU Athletics

The North Dakota State men’s basketball team stayed unbeaten in Summit League play with a 93-89 victory over IUPUI on Thursday evening in the Scheels Center on campus.

NDSU (11-5, 3-0 Summit) scored more than 50 points in the second half for the third straight game, outscoring the Jaguars 51-48 after halftime. The Bison overcame 22 offensive rebounds by IUPUI, and the Jaguars took 24 more shots than NDSU in the contest.

The Bison made up for the disparity by shooting 52 percent for the game, 50 percent from beyond the arc, and 29-of-39 at the free throw line.

NDSU sophomore point guard Khy Kabellis matched his career high with 21 points, making 8-of-10 shots. Junior A.J. Jacobson scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Junior guard Paul Miller drained four three-pointers and finished with 18 points.

IUPUI (7-9, 1-1 Summit) was led by 21 points from senior guard Kellon Thomas.

The Bison led 42-41 at halftime after shooting 7-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half. NDSU stretched the margin to nine points at 60-51 with 13 minutes remaining following back-to-back layups by Miller and Kabellis. The Bison were up 75-68 with just over eight minutes to play when the Jaguars strung together an 8-0 run to take a brief lead at 76-75.

Kabellis answered with a quick layup to put NDSU back in the lead, and the Bison never trailed again. Leading 90-87 with 36 seconds left, NDSU got one free throw from Kabellis to push the lead to four, and Dexter Werner corralled a missed three-point attempt by IUPUI’s Darell Combs.

NDSU is 3-0 in The Summit League for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

NDSU freshmen Tyson Ward and Jared Samuelson scored seven and six points, respectively. Samuelson drained a pair of treys in the first half with Kabellis on the bench in foul trouble.

The Bison will go on the road next week to take on South Dakota on Wednesday, Jan 11.