Oakland Wins NCAA ‘Play-In’
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DAYTON, Ohio – It took eight years in Division I for Oakland to get its first win in the NCAA tournament. As a reward, the Golden Grizzlies get to play top-seeded North Carolina.
Oakland broke open a tight game behind Rawle Marshall’s 29 points to beat Alabama A &M 79-69 last night in the “play-in” game of the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Obie Trotter scored 24 points for Alabama A&M (18-14), regular-season and tournament champs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Oakland (13-18) became only the fifth team with a losing record to win an NCAA tournament game.
Both teams were making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Oakland made the jump from Division II to Division I in the 1997-98 season.
As the Golden Grizzlies stretched the lead to 21 points with 5 minutes left, the emboldened Oakland student section began chanting, “We want Tar Heels! We want Tar Heels!”
The turnaround is almost incomprehensible for a team that was 7-18 and riding a three-game skid just 18 days ago. Almost as incredible, Oakland opened the season 0-7, losing by an average of 13 points a game.
