Cleveland State, Oakland Earn Spots in #HLMBB Championship Game

March 08

By Owen Kaelble
Sports Capital Journalism Program, IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS -- In a game of extreme runs, it was a 30-13 burst by Cleveland State in the final nine minutes of the second half that mattered most. The Vikings (18-7) overcame an extended scoring lull for much of the first half to prevail over the Milwaukee Panthers, 71-65, at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

Down by a point with only a minute and a half left on the clock, a crucial defensive rebound by Cleveland State junior guard D’Moi Hodge followed by a perfect pass to a wide open Tre Gomillion by the basket led to a silencing slam dunk and free throw that gave the Vikings the lead for good, 66-64, with exactly one minute left.

The No. 1-seeded Vikings advanced to their fourth Horizon League championship game with a chance to win their first conference tournament title since 2009. They will meet No. 3 seed Oakland, which defeated two-time defending champion Northern Kentucky, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Milwaukee (10-12) was hoping to reach the final for the first time since 2017.

Gomillion, a junior guard, led Cleveland State with 16 points, including 6-of-10 shooting from the foul line. Senior swingman Torrey Patton scored 14 points with 13 rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Craig Beaudion scored 10 points with four assists and two blocked shots.

And 6-foot-7 freshman forward Jayson Woodrich, who had averaged 4.3 points per game this season and made just 29.2% of his 3-point baskets, made 3-of-4 shots behind the line to score 11 points in just nine minutes.

Senior guard Josh Thomas led the Panthers with 25 points and three steals.

After slogging through a 19-2 run by Milwaukee in the first half, and after being down 11 with less than 10 minutes left in the game, the Vikings found their spark by getting to the free-throw line and relying on a suddenly red hot 3-point shooter. Following a layup by Thomas at the 9:47 mark to push the lead to 52-41, Woodrich became the target, making three 3-pointers over a five minute stretch to cut a double-digit lead to a single tally at the final media timeout.

“Ultimately the game was won off of Jayson Woodrich’s contributions and our guys being able to get stops and rebounds,” said Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates.

For the following three minutes it was a back-and-forth affair of trading baskets. Milwaukee junior guard DeAndre Gholston, who scored 10 points, made a layup to extend the lead back to three, followed by free throws for Cleveland State to bring the deficit back to one, followed by a Thomas layup.

When Patton made it a one-point game again on a layup with 1:31 left, it came down to a defensive stop. The Panthers got a good look on a jumper from Te’Jon Lucas, but Hodge grabbed the rebound which then led to the dunk.

The first big run of the game began about six minutes into the opening half. After a hot start from the field, the Vikings were leading 14-6 with 14:17 left in the first half. For the next 11 minutes, it was all Panthers as Milwaukee went on the 19-2 run fueled by defense. The Vikings turned it over seven times during the stretch, also hampered by going 1-for-13 from the field.

Thomas was the star for the Panthers in the first half, notching 10 points, along with senior Amir Allen’s nine rebounds and six points of his own. The Panthers dominated the glass for the first 20 minutes, and held Patton, the Vikings’ leading scorer, to only five points on 2-of-6 shooting.

The Panthers led by six at the half despite zero points from Gholston, the League’s fifth-ranked scorer, who had averaged 17.1.

“We got off to a great start and that started in preparation,” Gates said. “But somehow the air got out the ball and we kind of slowed down a little bit. Things weren’t going our way and I thought it impacted our energy.”

The leading scorers for both teams got going in the second half as Gholston scored 10 in the latter half and Patton had nine of his 14 points in the final 20 minutes, finishing with a double-double.

The Vikings persevered after having to overcome a 19-2 run over an 11-minute span, having their leading scorer held scoreless before halftime, and facing a double-digit deficit halfway through the second half. Through all that, Gates had confidence in his team.

“Our guys were resilient,” he said. “We didn’t give up.”

Oakland 69, Northern Kentucky 58

By Jordan Morey
Sports Capital Journalism Program, IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS -- A team that lost its first nine games of the season will compete for its first-ever Horizon League Tournament crown on Tuesday night.

Oakland University’s men’s basketball team punched its ticket to the Horizon League Men’s Championship game Monday by topping two-time defending champion Northern Kentucky University, 69-58, at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

Third-seeded Oakland (12-17) will face No. 1 Cleveland State (18-7) at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN for the title. The Vikings rallied to beat No. 8 Milwaukee 71-65 in Monday night’s first men’s semifinal match.

Coach Greg Kampe, in his 37th year at Oakland, said his team’s defensive performance won the contest, as it held the Norse to 33 percent shooting on the night -- including 23 percent from 3-point territory on 30 attempts. Northern Kentucky had made 45.1 percent of its shots before the semifinal.

“I think that, in my time at Oakland, we have won a lot of important, big basketball games,” Kampe said. “But I would tell you this is the first time in all those years [in] championships and tournaments that we have ever won a game because of our defense. We’ve won games because of defensive stops, or plays, but I thought we played 40 minutes of unbelievable defense. Our zone was tremendous.”

The Norse, who had won nine of their previous 11 games, were hoping to play for a fourth championship in five seasons.

In the semifinal matchup against No. 4 NKU, Oakland came out hot from the field hitting five of its first eight shots -- behind four different scorers -- to lead the Norse 11-7 by the first media timeout. In that same stretch, the Norse were shooting just 3-of-12.

Out of the break, Oakland junior guard Rashad Williams drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put his team ahead by double digits at 17-7, prompting a time out by second-year NKU coach Darrin Horn. The Norse chipped away at the deficit following the stoppage, getting as close as two points, but the Golden Grizzlies maintained the lead at 31-26 at the half.

At the break, Oakland had shot 40 percent (42 percent from 3-point) to Northern Kentucky's 34 percent (14 percent from 3-point). Williams and fellow junior Jalen Moore each had nine for the Golden Grizzlies, while junior Trevon Faulkner had just as many for the Norse.

Oakland came out strong after intermission -- going on a 7-2 run on back-to-back baskets by junior forward Daniel Oladapo and a 3-pointer by Moore -- to build the lead back to 10 at 38-28 by the 15-minute mark.

Three inside baskets from freshman Trey Townsend, an and-one from Williams and a 3-pointer by freshman Micah Parrish then extended Oakland’s lead to 59-47 with 5:29 left in the game.

Oladapo led the Golden Grizzlies with 19 points, scoring 11 in the second half, while Williams chipped in 17 and Moore had 14. Townsend finished with nine points and 11 rebounds (six offensive). Faulkner topped all scorers with 26 points on 9-for-22 shooting and junior Bryson Langdon scored 14.

Northern Kentucky freshman guard Marques Warrick, who had averaged 16.1 points per game, was held to eight points on 3-of-15 shooting, including 1-of-9 from 3-point range.

Oakland’s zone limited Northern Kentucky to 23-for-69 shooting, including 7-for-30 from beyond the arc. On the boards, the Norse won the rebounding battle 44-36. NKU turned the ball over nine times to the Golden Grizzlies’ four giveaways.

“Give Greg and his team credit,” Horn said. “I thought they played really well. They were really aggressive defensively. I thought we came out a little timid offensively and that carried over to the defensive end for us. We have been a team that has made a lot of progress over the last six weeks, but a big key to that was getting multiple contributions from people and having a third and fourth scorer step up for us. Tonight, we just didn’t have that.”

The Golden Grizzlies could’ve finished with a larger margin of victory, but struggled from the free throw line going 10-26. Kampe said that if it wasn't for his team's defensive performance, those misses could've cost them the game.

The winner Tuesday night will earn an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Cleveland State last made it to the NCAA tournament after winning the Horizon League tourney title in 2009. Oakland, a Horizon League member since the 2013-14 season, has not been a part of March Madness since it was a member of the Summit League in 2011.

CSU won a pair of tight games over Oakland during the regular season, topping the Golden Grizzlies 80-72 on Feb. 5 and 80-78 Feb. 6. The Vikings went on to win the Horizon League's regular season title.

“We’ve been waiting for a chance to play them again,” Kampe said of CSU. “They’re the No.1 seed and will be a heavy favorite, but we’ll show up.”