Abmas named Player of the Year in Summit League awards

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The Oral Roberts men collected several honors in this year’s Summit League awards.

The Golden Eagles completed an undefeated 18-0 season. It is just the second time Summit League history that a team ran the table unbeaten. The first team to do so was the 2021-22 SDSU men.

Oral Roberts standout guard, Max Abmas was named the Player of the Year. The guard posted 22.3 points per game. He also tallied 110 assists and 36 steals.

The Golden Eagles head coach, Paul Mills was named the Coach of the Year, while forward Connor Vanover claimed the Newcomer and Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Vanover averaged 12.2 ppg against League foes and ranked third in rebounding with a 7.1 clip. He also led all League players with 56 total blocks, which was good for a 3.1 bpg clip.

Paul Mills earned his first Summit League Coach of the Year honor after guiding ORU to just the second perfect season by a Summit League squad in 41 years of conference play. His Golden Eagles capped that run with a win at South Dakota State this past Saturday. The Jackrabbits were the first program to achieve that feat a season ago.

St. Thomas guard Andrew Rohde was named the Summit League Freshman of the Year and became the first rookie since the 2015-16 season to earn a spot on the All-League First Team (Mike Daum, South Dakota State and John Konchar, Purdue Fort Wayne). Rohde averaged 18.4 ppg to rank fifth among League players and is third nationally among freshman, averaging 16.7 ppg overall.

For the third consecutive year North Dakota had an individual award winner. This time it was junior Matt Norman collecting the hardware for being named the Summit League Sixth Man of the Year. Norman was the League’s top-scoring reserve at 12.2 ppg and also ranked second in 3-point field goal percentage, knocking down 41.7 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.

The individual and all-league honors are voted on by the League’s 10 head coaches, athletic communication directors and select media members. All of these accolades are based on the player’s performance in Summit League play.

Abmas was the only returning player from the All-League First Team as he was joined by Rohde, Vanover, South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo, North Dakota State forward Grant Nelson and Western Illinois guard Trenton Massner.

Mayo ranked third among League players in scoring at 21.1 ppg and was the top 3-point shooter thanks to a 42.4 percent clip from distance. The Lawrence Kan., native also ranked in the top 10 in rebounding (6.0/g; 10th) and assists (4.0/g; t3rd).

The All-League Second Team featured the Kansas City backcourt duo of Shemarri Allen and RayQuawndis Mitchell, St. Thomas forward Parker Bjorklund, South Dakota State forward Matt Dentlinger and Oral Roberts guard Issac McBride.

Dentlinger’s all-league honor is the second of his career after he earned the same nod as a sophomore following the 2019-20 season. Dentlinger averaged 14.9 ppg and 5.8 rpg, while leading the League in field goal percentage (62.4).

This year’s honorable mention squad featured South Dakota’s duo of guard Kruz Perrott-Hunt (16.2 ppg, 2.2 apg) and forward Tasos Kamateros (14.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg), Denver point guard Tommy Bruner (16.2 ppg, 3.8 apg), Omaha guard Frankie Fidler (16.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg), and North Dakota State guard Boden Skunberg (15.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg).

Vanover headlined the All-Defensive Team and was joined on that squad by Allen, Nelson, South Dakota State guard Matt Mims and Western Illinois forward Jesiah West.

Bruner, Mitchell, Rohde and Allen were joined on the All-Newcomer Team by South Dakota State freshman William Kyle III.

Each of the League’s 10 teams will embark on Sioux Falls this weekend for The Summit League Men’s Basketball Championship. The action starts Friday at 6 p.m. CT when No. 8 seed Denver takes on No. 9 seed North Dakota at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

2023 Summit League Men’s Basketball Awards
First Team All-Summit League
Max Abmas, Oral Roberts^** (Sr., G)
Trenton Massner, Western Illinois* (Sr., G)
Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State (So., G)
Grant Nelson, North Dakota State (Jr., F)
Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas (Fr., G)
Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (Sr., F)

Second Team All-Summit League
Shemarri Allen, Kansas City (Sr., G)
Parker Bjorklund, St. Thomas (Gr., F)
Matt Dentlinger, South Dakota State** (Gr., F)
Issac McBride, Oral Roberts (Jr., G)
RayQuawndis Mitchell, Kansas City (Gr., G)

Honorable Mention All-Summit League
Tommy Bruner, Denver (Jr., G)
Frankie Fidler, Omaha (So., G)
Tasos Kamateros, South Dakota (Sr., F)
Kruz Perrott-Hunt, South Dakota* (Sr., G)
Boden Skunberg, North Dakota State (Jr., G)

^Player of the year automatically earns a spot on the first team
*previous all-league selections noted above

All-Defensive Team
Shemarri Allen, Kansas City (Sr., G)
Matt Mims, South Dakota State (Jr., G)
Grant Nelson, North Dakota State (Jr., F)
Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (Sr., F)
Jesiah West, Western Illinois (Jr., F)

All-Newcomer Team
Tommy Bruner, Denver (Jr., G)
William Kyle III, South Dakota State (Fr., F)
RayQuawndis Mitchell, Kansas City (Gr., G)
Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas (Fr., G)
Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (Sr., F)