Oakland Earns 2024 Barbasol #HLMBB Title

Oakland Earns 2024 Barbasol #HLMBB Title

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INDIANAPOLIS (March 12, 2024) – Behind 38 points from #HLMBB Player of the Year Trey Townsend, the Oakland Grizzlies are headed into March Madness. Regular season champion Oakland (23-11) held off No. 6 seed Milwaukee (22-12) 83-76 Tuesday night to claim the 2024 Barbasol #HLMBB Championship.

“The NCAA Tournament is one of the top two or three sporting events in the world – and these guys get to be in it,” Oakland’s Greg Kampe said.

Oakland, in its 10th Horizon League season, will represent #HLMBB for the first time in March Madness. The Golden Grizzlies last went to the tournament in 2011. This is the school’s fourth NCAA appearance overall.
 
Dig Deeper:
  • Trey Townsend dominated en route to MVP honors. The Horizon League Player of Year scored a career-high 38 points with 11 rebounds. Chris Conway added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
  • The game was tight throughout, featuring nine ties and 10 lead changes. The game was within a three-point scoring margin for over 31 minutes of play and Milwaukee held its last lead with 5:06 left in the game.
  • The teams traded baskets until a Conway putback put the Golden Grizzlies ahead 74-70 with 2:00 on the clock. Oakland would go 7-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to cut down the nets.
  • Milwaukee received 16 points from Erik Pratt and 15 from Kentrell Pullian.
  • Both teams shot 44 percent from the floor and were essentially even in rebounds and turnovers. Oakland held a 21-14 advantage in made free throws, with several of those late as MKE had to foul to extend the game.
  • Oakland’s win marked the 19th time (but only the second time since 2015) in Horizon League history that a team has won both the regular season and tournament titles in men’s basketball.
  • Quotable: “We said it back in June – we are going to the tournament,” Kampe said on the court after the game. “Do you know how hard it is to win a regular season and tournament championship in a League with five teams with 20 wins? We did it and I’m so happy for our team.”
 
2024 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball All-Tournament Team
Trey Townsend, Oakland (Valeo MVP)
Jack Gohlke, Oakland
Faizon Fields, Milwaukee
BJ Freeman, Milwaukee
Trey Robinson, Northern Kentucky