PITTSBURGH — All good issues should come to an finish. Oakland basketball’s magical run did simply that on Saturday.
The 14-seed Golden Grizzlies fell to 11-seed N.C. State, 79-73 in additional time at PPG Paints Enviornment within the second spherical of the NCAA match, simply 48 hours after changing into the early darlings of the match by knocking off 3-seed Kentucky.
“Lots completely different than a pair nights in the past,” OU coach Greg Kampe stated. “It is laborious as a result of it is over.”
Trey Townsend and Jack Gohlke stole the present within the second half. Townsend, the Horizon League Participant of the 12 months, completed with 30 factors and 13 rebounds, whereas Gohlke scored 22 factors and eight rebounds as he made six of 17 3-pointers.
Nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to beat the 6-foot-10, 275-pound DJ Burns, who put up 24 factors, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, or his quartet of teammates that additionally scored in double figures: Michael O’Connell had 12, whereas Mohamed Diarra, DJ Horne and Casey Morsell completed with 11 apiece.
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“That man was a load down there,” Townsend stated of Burns. “We did every thing we might. It simply didn’t bounce our manner.”
Bonus basketball
With the sport tied at 66 coming into the additional interval, Townsend bought the scoring began when he break up a pair of free throws, however there was Burns on the opposite finish making a finger-roll layup.
After a pair of Townsend free throws gave Oakland the lead, 69-68, Burns bought an offensive rebound on a missed 3-pointer from the brief nook and his putback gave N.C. State a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
“I do not assume that ball even bought 10-feet-2 within the air,” Kampe stated. “It hits proper in entrance of the rim, comes proper all the way down to the large man and he lays it in. We had been fronting the large man, the one rebound he’d get is that if it hit the rim and got here straight down.
“These are the bounces of the sport.”
After a turnover on a cross from DQ Cole to Townsend, DJ Horne made a mid-range jumper with 1:33 to go up three. Blake Lampman responded with a free throw to get again inside two, however Jayden Taylor hit the dagger 3-pointer from the best nook with 1:13 left to go up 5.
Burns made 4 straight free throws to go up, 79-70, with 17 seconds to play, earlier than Cole made a 3-pointer to get Oakland again inside six with 13 seconds to play.
The Grizzlies compelled a turnover, however Gohlke missed his third straight 3-pointer brief because the clock struck midnight on Oakland’s run.
“We have achieved an amazing job this complete season of executing late recreation and at the moment we simply did not do pretty much as good of a job,” Gohlke stated. “Give N.C. State credit score, they had been a very good defensive group at the moment and disrupted a number of the thigns we needed to do, particularly on the final possession (of additional time).
“It comes all the way down to these slim margins within the last minutes of the sport. They went our manner within the Kentucky recreation as a result of we executed nicely; at the moment, we gave all of it our effort, however N.C. State made the performs on the proper occasions.”
The ultimate minutes (we thought)
Oakland, which trailed for the primary 37 minutes of the sport, was down by 4 with lower than 4 minutes to go when Gohlke caught the ball on the left wing and his pump faux made the defender fall, earlier than he casually drilled his sixth 3-pointer of the sport.
On the subsequent possession Townsend accomplished a three-point play to provide Oakland its the primary lead, 63-61.
Oakland nonetheless was up one when N.C. State’s Michael O’Connell hit a scooping lefty layup plus a foul, then bought the free throw to fall to go up two with 55.6 left. Gohlke was fouled with out the ball 15 seconds later and made a pair of free throws to tie the sport at with 41.7 seconds to play.
After an N.C. State miss, Oakland tried to attract up one last look in regulation.
“The ball was attending to Townsend going through the basket on the left elbow,” Kampe stated. “He was supposed to tear and drive and he’d both be the hero, go to the free throw line or they would not name it; a type of three issues was going to occur.
“We took too lengthy to get in (our set). They got here and denied the entry cross. … It is my fault as a result of we had 17 seconds. We did not wish to go till 10 or 12, if we would gone at 17, we might’ve dealt with that. That was the error.”
Oakland turned the ball over with 1.7 seconds left and the Wolfpack missed a halfcourt heave.
Absorbing first punch
Like Thursday night time, it was a sluggish begin for the Golden Grizzlies, who missed seven of their first eight photographs.
Horne wanted no such time heating up. He made a transition layup to open the sport, then knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing, then a floater to attain the Wolfpack’s first seven, earlier than Burns bought concerned with a lefty hook down low to go up 9-2.
Chris Conway added a put-back slam earlier than Gohlke — who bought a standing ovation when he checked in — made his first 3-pointer from the best wing on his first shot try of the sport to get OU again inside two.
“I do know in my life I’ve by no means put a sub in and seen a spot go nuts three minutes right into a recreation,” Kampe stated. “What does this place seat, 18,000 or one thing? That was the loudest roar of the night time when he went in three minutes into the sport, after which he caught it and made it.”
That was the one shot try he might get off the primary 12 minutes of the sport as N.C. State took turns switching defenders from Morsell to O’Connell to Taylor, who face-guarded Gohlke as he ran round display after display.
By the point he took one other 3-point strive, it got here up brief and the Wolfpack went again the opposite manner in transition and bought a bucket from Taylor to go up 26-17 and produce the contingent of followers sporting purple to their toes.
Within the meantime, Lampman drilled a pair of 3-pointers to maintain OU inside hanging distance.
Oakland continued to chip away. Conway stopped the bleeding with a turnaround bucket after which in the end Gohlke was in a position to get going. He used a pump faux to get a clear look from the highest of the important thing and drill a 3-pointer, then after a scooping layup by Diarra, Gohlke made one other 3, off a curl from the best wing to get Oakland again inside three, 28-25.
N.C. State led, 32-29, at halftime after making simply two of its last 12 discipline targets, however the Wolfpack had a 20-12 lead on factors within the paint.
Two-man present
Oakland made a concerted effort to feed Townsend to open the second half on 4 straight possessions.
After a miss on the primary journey down and spitting a pair of free throws on the second, Townsend made a righty hook from the left block after which put the ball on the deck and blew-by Burns for a layup to get Oakland again inside two, 36-34.
“The adjustment we made was we needed to catch the ball off a rebound or in the event that they rating and fly it off the ground,” Kampe stated. “You noticed rather more fluidity out of us within the second half and we had been in a position to get the ball to Trey.”
After a Burns turnover, OU had an opportunity to take its first lead of the sport on a Gohlke 3-pointer, nevertheless it missed broad and he didn’t get the foul name he was on the lookout for. On the opposite finish Burns answered with a spinning layup and Morsell knocked down a transition 3-pointer and similar to that, N.C. State’s lead was again to seven.
Townsend responded with a three-point play earlier than, lastly, Gohlke bought concerned as soon as extra. After the Grizzlies compelled a unfastened ball turnover, Lampman picked the ball up in transition and gave the handoff to Gohlke who drilled the lengthy ball from one step inside the emblem.
On the subsequent possession, Townsend completed a layup down low and for the primary time because the recreation was scoreless, OU was tied, 42-42.
“Trey Townsend is a professional,” Kampe stated. “He proved it tonight.”
N.C. State picked up back-to-back 3-pointers of its personal when Burns handed out of a triple-team and located Morsell on the best wing after which O’Connell nailed one from the identical spot to go up 51-45 halfway by means of the half.
Townsend sandwiched a 3-pointer from the left wing and a hook shot round a Burns layup to get OU again inside three, then, after Diarra nailed a pointer from the nook immediately in entrance of his bench, Gohlke made one other 3, this time whereas he was fouled, and the free throw pulled OU inside two with simply greater than 6 minutes to play.
N.C. State would name a timeout and, with lower than 2 seconds on the shot clock, O’Connell drilled a 3 from the left wing to place N.C. State up 5, earlier than Townsend answered with a 3-pointer from the identical spot to make it 59-57 going into the ultimate media timeout.