97.1 The Ticket -- One local Horizon League team's season came to an end Wednesday night about 300 miles away from home, while the other's continued with a narrow home win.
The No. 3-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies (16-6) held off No. 6-seed Youngstown State 88-84 at the O'Rena in Rochester to advance to the Horizon League semifinals.
Oakland will face No. 2-seed Northern Kentucky, who ended No. 7-seed Detroit Mercy's season by a score of 99-88, in the semis at Little Caesars Arena downtown Detroit on Monday.
Jaevin Cumberland led the way for Oakland with 23 points and five rebounds, while Xavier Hill-Mais recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
The Golden Grizzlies led by as many as 10 points midway through the second half, but the Penguins (12-20) kept things close until the end.
Hear from Greg Kampe, Xavier Hill-Mais and Brad Brechting in tonight press conference.--️ https://t.co/6UTQA0sBiO#WEARtheBEAR
— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB)
March 7, 2019 Meanwhile in Highland Heights, Kentucky, the Titans (11-20) got 30 points out of leading scorer Antoine Davis and another 24 off the bench from senior guard Josh McFolley, but it wasn't enough to overcome Northern Kentucky's offense, which shot better than 50 percent from the floor.
The Norse, who won a share of the Horizon League regular season title, opened the second half on a 14-4 run, erasing a 47-40 Titans lead.
Davis finished the season averaging just over 26 points per game, ranking third among all Division I players. He wound up with 128 3-pointers on the season,
the most by any freshman in a single season in D-I history.
Tyler Sharpe and Trevon Faulkner had 25 and 20 points, respectively for the Norse (24-8).
Oakland and NKU are scheduled to meet Monday night at LCA following the conclusion of the first semifinal between Green bay and defending Horizon tourney champions Wright State.
TICKET PUNCHED to @LCArena_Detroit --Purchase your Oakland fan block tickets ➡️ https://t.co/zI3VDFO5cwUse PROMO CODE: TEAMC#OaklandMBB | #WEARtheBEAR | #HLMBB | #MotorCityMadness pic.twitter.com/SbOPA95LnU
— Golden Grizzlies (@GoldenGrizzlies)
March 7, 2019 Northern Kentucky made the 2017 NCAA Tournament in its first year of eligibility after transitioning from D-II. Oakland has not made the Big Dance since 2011, when Texas escaped with a narrow 85-81 win in the first round.
