February 26, 2026
THIS WEEK'S PREVIEW
MADISON, S.D. - The Dakota State University Trojan men's basketball team (18-9 overall record, 13-9 Frontier Conference) enters their postseason play in the four-day Frontier Conference Men's Basketball Postseason Tournament at Butte Civic Center (1340 Harrison Ave.) in Butte, Mont.
The sixth seeded Trojans open their quarterfinal action versus No. 3 seed Carroll (Mont.) (19-8, 17-5 Frontier) in the final quarterfinal contest Saturday evening at 8:30 p.m. (Central Time)/7:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).. The tournament continues with the semifinals round on Sunday evening and the championship game on Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. (Central Time)/7:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).
The Frontier Conference awards the second automatic bid to the postseason tournament champion.
QUICK HITS
*This will be the first time in Dakota State's school history that the Trojan men's basketball team plays a conference tournament in the state of Montana.
*DSU is seeking to advance to the conference's semifinals round for the third consecutive year. The Trojans advanced to the North Star's conference postseason tournament semifinals for the past two seasons.
*The last time Dakota State was in the conference championship game was during the 2020-21 season, traveling through five different states in six days. The Trojans fell short to Bellevue (Neb.) in the NSAA postseason tournament's championship game.
*The Frontier Conference will award the second automatic bid to the postseason tournament's champion. Rocky Mountain (Mont.) has secured the first automatic national bid after winning the league with a 20-2 conference record.
*Dakota State is making their fourth trip to the state of Montana this season.
2025-26 STATS COMPARISON
|
|
|
| Scoring Offense |
85.6 |
74.5 |
| Scoring Defense |
79.8 |
65.6 |
| Scoring Margin |
5.7 |
8.9 |
| Field Goal % |
.505 |
.481 |
| Field Goal Def. % |
.494 |
.439 |
| Free Throw % |
.744. |
.701 |
| Rebounds Per Game |
30.3 |
35.1 |
| Rebounds Margin |
-3.9 |
6.7 |
| 3-point FGs Made Per Game |
8.2 |
7.3 |
| 3-point FG % |
.402 |
.369 |
| Assists Per Game |
17.2 |
13.6 |
| Blocks Per Game |
0.7 |
1.9 |
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING SAINTS
Carroll (Mont.), based in Helena, Mont., is guided by second-year head coach Dan Pearson. The Fighting Saints finished in a tie for second place in the Frontier Conference with Bellevue (Neb.). Bellevue swept the season series with Carroll, therefore the Fighting Saints received the three-seed in the Frontier Conference Postseason Tournament.
Carroll ended their regular season with a road split, completing a season sweep of Valley City State (N.D.) (95-77) and dropping the final game of the regular season to Mayville State (N.D.) (93-79).
Carroll ranks first in the Frontier Conference in scoring at 85.6 points per contest. The Fighting Saints also lead the league in 3-point field goal percentage (40.2 percent) and are second in free-throw percentage (74.4 percent).
Dakota State and Carroll will be meeting for the third time in program history on Saturday evening. The Trojans have lost both tightly contested matchups, falling 82-81 in Helena, and 83-76 in Madison.
SCOUTING THE FRONTIER POSTSEASON
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) is the top-seed team for the Frontier Conference Men's Basketball Posteason Tournament. The four-day conference postseason tournament is being played at Butte Civic Center in Butte, Mont.
The Battlin' Bears face No. 8 seed Mayville State (N.D.) while host-team No. 5 seed Montana Tech takes on No. 4 seed in the top of the bracket.
The bottom bracket features No. 2 seed Bellevue (Neb.) taking on No. 7 seed MSU-Northern, while the last quarterfinal contest features No. 3 seed Carroll (Mont.) taking on No. 6 seed Dakota State (S.D.) late Saturday evening.
The semifinals continue on Sunday evening, with the championship game on Monday evening. The winner of the conference postseason tournament will receive the second Frontier Conference's automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament, which starts on March 13-14 with the First & Second Rounds.
LAST TIME OUT
Dakota State (S.D.) snapped their four-game losing skid as they closed their regular season finale by going 2-0 record at home at DSU Fieldhouse. The Trojans finished their home schedule with a 10-4 record and produced a single season school record 13 conference wins (previous school record was 12 conference wins during the 2004-05 season in the former Dakota Athletic Conference).
Dakota State erased an eight-point halftime deficit on Feb. 20 versus Dickinson State (N.D.), using a 49-31 second-half rally to earn an 84-74 win. The Trojans produced their first season series sweep of the Blue Hawks since the 2020-21 season.
After trailing by ten points at 45-35 to start the second half, DSU went on a 12-2 scoring run, capped by a 3-pointer by
Aiden Jensen to knot the game at 47-47 with 14:50 remaining. After battling back and forth, the Blue Hawks briefly led 62-61 after the Trojans went on a scoring closing run. The Trojans scored 10 straight points to grab a 71-62 lead and never looked back to secure the victory.
Dakota State shot 16-of-28 field goals in the second half (57.1 percent).
Brayden Pankonen led the Trojans with 20 points on 6-of-10 field goals, including 5-of-7 from the 3-point line, and dished out five assists. Jensen added a season igh 18 points on his perfect 6-of-6 field goal shooting.
Tyler Beckwith also had a season-high 16 points. He also had five rebounds, and three steals.
Lukas Morgan tallied 14 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.
Nolan Segner had nine points and two blocks.
Dakota State built an early double-digit lead and used dominant scoring performance from Morgan to defeat Bismarck State (N.D.) 86-72 in the regular season finale and home contest at at DSU Fieldhouse on Feb. 21. The Trojans never trailed in the game to secure their 18th win of the season, their most wins since the 2015-16 season.
DSU led 44-32 at halftime, thanks to their blazing 63 percent field goal shooting in the first half (17-of-27 field goals). The Mystics trimmed the Trojans' lead down to four points at 44-40. The Trojans maintained their lead for the rest of the game to secure the victory.
Morgan scored a career-high 34 points on his 11-of-14 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line for Dakota State. Pankonen added 17 points (5-of-8 from the 3-point line). T. Beckwith added 12 points and seven rebounds, while
Nathan Ojukwu had eight points and seven assists.
PANKONEN TABS FINAL EDITION OF ERCK HOTELS/FRONTIER CONFERENCE WEEKLY AWARD
Junior guard
Brayden Pankonen of Dakota State (S.D.) was selected to the seventeenth and final edition of the 2025-26 Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player-of-the-Week, announced by the conference office Monday.
Pankonen averaged 2.5 steals per game as Dakota State closed their regular season schedule with a 2-0 record. He stole the ball two times in Trojans' 84-74 win over Dickinson State (N.D.). He held the Blue Hawks' leading scorer to 12 points on 1-of-6 3-point field goal shooting and turned him three times.
Pankonen followed with three steals in Dakota State's 86-72 win over Bismarck State (N.D.).
Offensively, he averaged 18.5 points on his 12-of-19 field goals (63.2 percent) and hit 10-of-15 3-pointers during the weekend. He also averaged 4.0 assists per game.
These were done helping Dakota State propelling to their most wins (18) since 2016, most wins in the regular season since 2013, best regular season winning percentage since 2013, most regular season wins since 2013, most conference wins (13) in men's basketball history.
Pankonen ranks fourth in the Frontier Conference with 51 steals this season for the Trojans. He is currently fifth in the Trojan men's basketball record book in all-time steals with 124 prior to the conference postseason tournament.
Pankonen is also third all-time in the DSU men's basketball school record book with 183 3-point field goals made.
DSU IN THE FRONTIER CONFERENCE RANKS
According to the NAIA-PrestoStats as of Thursday, Dakota State ranks second overall in the Frontier Conference in scoring defense. The Trojans held their opponents to 65.6 points per game.
Nathan Ojukwu ranks third in the league with 7.3 rebounds per game for the Trojans.
Brayden Pankonen is also fourth in the conference with 50 steals.
Ojukwu ranks eighth in the Frontier Conference with 16.6 points per game, followed by
Lukas Morgan ninth with 16.2 points per game for Dakota State.
2025-26 DSU Trojan Men's Basketball Team Leaders
- Points/Points Per Game: Nathan Ojukwu – 448 points (16.6 points per game)
- Field Goal Percentage: Taine Mitchell – 56.4 percent (31-of-55 field goals)
- 3-point Field Goal Percentage: Brayden Pankonen – 42.2 percent (49-of-116 3-point field goals)
- Free-Throw Percentage: Brayden Pankonen – 81.4 percent (48-of-59 free-throws)
- Rebounds: Nathan Ojukwu – 196 rebounds (7.3 rebounds per game)
- Assists/Assists Per Game: Nathan Ojukwu – 76 assists/2.8 assists per game
- Steals/Steals Per Game: Brayden Pankonen – 50 steals/1.8 steals per game
- Blocked Shots: Aiden Jensen – 14 blocked shots (0.7 blocks per game)
