RMU and Youngstown State Advance to Barbasol #HLMBB Championship Game
INDIANAPOLIS – The Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship game has been crashed by a team that will win the title for the first time.
- Top seed RMU, making its first trip to Indianapolis in its five seasons as a Horizon League member, erased a 13-point second half deficit to hold off reigning champion Oakland 79-76 in overtime Monday night.
- In the late night semifinal, northeast Ohio rivals battled as No. 4 seed Youngstown State survived No. 2 seed Youngstown State 56-54.
Title Time: RMU and YSU will face off Tuesday night on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. RMU owns nine all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, the last one coming in 2015. YSU has never made the Big Dance, nor played in the Horizon League tournament final.
Five Years, Five Champions: With Oakland’s loss in the semifinal, this tournament’s action has led to a new champion for the fifth straight year. The last team to repeat as tournament champ was Northern Kentucky in 2019 and 2020.
Penguins Freeze CSU To Advance To First-Ever Tournament Final
Defensive Squeeze: Youngstown State held Cleveland State to its lowest point total in a league game this year, and allowed CSU just five points over the game’s first 12 minutes.
Quotable: “I’m really proud of our effort defensively. It was a gritty performance, we didn’t have a lot going offensively,” YSU head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “We stayed the course defensively and grinded it out and made some shots in the second half. I told our guys if we’re not the best defensive team in the league, we don’t have a chance to win this thing. And that’s held true.”
The Major Play: In a game that featured six ties and seven lead changes, Cleveland State had the upper hand late until YSU’s Ty Harper made the biggest shot of the game.
- Harper drilled a trey and was fouled. The 4-point play by Harper with 43 seconds left turned a two-point deficit into a two-point lead.
- CSU had the ball last with a chance to tie or win, and Youngstown State got two stops in a row to survive and advance.
Siem Uijtendaal led a balanced Youngstown State attack with 13 points. Cleveland State (21-12) got 14 points from Tevin Smith.
Top Seed RMU Survives Overtime vs. Reigning Champ Oakland
Major Player: All-Horizon League guard Kam Woods posted game highs of 23 points and seven assists to lead RMU to Tuesday night’s title game. Four other Colonials scored in double figures and RMU made 10 shots from long range.
How It Ended: Oakland had multiple chances to tie the game, and even at the end of regulation had a miracle heave that would’ve won the game barely miss. In the final possession, OU had two contested 3-pointers but they were well-defended by RMU, as Oakland’s final attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Quotable: “It was an incredibly well-played and hard-fought game,” RMU head coach Andy Toole said. “It’s exactly what you would expect in the semifinal of the conference tournament. We’re excited to have an opportunity tomorrow night, and our guys will be ready to go.”
Dig Deeper: After OU built a 13-point lead early in the second half, RMU pounded the ball inside and slashed the deficit to three when a Malcolm Christie 3-pointer gave Oakland a 64-57 lead. RMU then responded with a 10-0 run over a 2:37 span and the two teams traded shots into the overtime.