Oakland Rallies, But NKU Sinks Buzzer Beater To Advance To Horizon Finals [VIDEO]

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Photo credit © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
DETROIT (97.1 The Ticket) -- Oakland University's NCAA Tournament hopes were fading fast, trailing No. 2-seed Northern Kentucky 61-50 with four minutes to play in Monday night's Horizon League Tournament semifinals. 

The Golden Grizzlies started hot and led by double digits in the first half, but the Norse had all but buried the psuedo-home team.

And then Oakland flipped a switch.

The Golden Grizzlies went on a 13-0 run, spurred by back-to-back 3-pointers from Jaevin Cumberland and Tray Maddox Jr. and capped by a pair of Cumberland free throws that gave Oakland a 63-61 lead with under 10 seconds to play.

But in a blink of an eye, OU's tournament hopes were gone again. 

NKU big man Drew McDonald got wide open on the next possession and drilled a dagger 3-pointer to snap his team's four-minute scoring drought and send the Norse to the championship game.

Onions! Northern Kentucky advances to the Horizon League Championship Game.pic.twitter.com/ELA6eZZPyV

— CollegeBB News (@CollegeBBNCAA) March 12, 2019

Oakland had a shot to counter with 1.6 seconds left, but Braden Norris's heave went well over the basket, ending Oakland's season at 16-17.

The Norse (24-8) will face No. 1-seed Wright State Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Wright State took care of Wisconsin-Green Bay 66-54 in the first semifinal of the night.

Cumberland had a game-high 27 points on 7-of-14 3-point shooting.

McDonald's game-winning triple gave him 18 on the night.