PITTSBURGH — On paper, a matchup of double-digit seeds in the NCAA Tournament typically doesn’t suggest a good game. This one, full of freshly-minted March stars and storylines, unexpectedly developed into a primetime prize fight.
No. 14 Oakland and sharpshooting sensation Jack Gohlke had a chance to win in the final minute of regulation but never got a shot off, and D.J. Burns exerted his interior dominance in overtime, helping No. 11 North Carolina State to a 79-73 win in their second round South Region game Saturday night.
“It was tough, hard-fought, it felt like a boxing match,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “It was a back-and-forth game. We bent a little bit, but we never broke.”
After winning their seventh straight game, including five in five days to win the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack now advance to their first Sweet 16 since 2015.
“I just think we’ve come together. Like we’ve been a good team all year long. We just hadn’t stacked games,” Keatts said. “We hadn’t stacked opportunities.”
Burns, who burst onto the scene as the MVP of that tournament last week in the District, led N.C. State with 24 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting. He was one of five Wolfpack players in double figures, along with Michael O’Connell’s 12, and DJ Horne, Casey Morsell and Mohammed Diarra’s 11 each. Diarra, who fouled out in overtime, also grabbed 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double in his last four games.
“I think one of the things if you look back at the seven games we won in a row is I think that everyone has really stepped up in different ways, and every night there’s someone else,” Keatts said. “So that’s kind of what makes us special right now. That makes us tough to guard because on any given night, one of these guys can lead us in scoring.”
N.C. State (24-14) led the entire way until just under 3 minutes remaining in regulation. Trey Townsend, who led all scorers with 30 points, earned a three-point play after muscling inside for a layup and drawing a foul from Burns for Oakland’s first lead, 63-61.
The Wolfpack clawed it back as O’Connell, who hadn’t taken anything but threes to that point, drove to the basket for the first time all night as the shot clock was expiring. He made his layup and subsequent free throw for a 66-64 Wolfpack lead.
“I mean I was just taking what the defense was really giving me. They were pressing out. I kind of just — he went one way, I tried to make — go make a play,” O’Connell said. “If they stepped up I was going to kick it, but I felt like I could take a lay-up and I tried to do what I could do to finish the play.”
Gohlke made two foul shots to tie it, and following a Burns miss, Oakland had the ball with 18 seconds left and a chance to win. Oakland coach Greg Kampe called timeout to design a play that would run through Townsend, who scored 24 of his points after halftime.
“Ball was getting to Townsend facing the basket on the left elbow, and he was supposed to rip and drive,” Kampe said. “And he was either going to be the hero or he was going to go to the free throw line or they weren’t going to call it. One of those three things was going to happen.”
Instead, a fourth thing happened. Under pressure from Burns, Chris Conway attempted a pass from the top of the circle to the baseline, but threw the ball out of bounds. The play was reviewed, and N.C. State awarded possession, with Casey Morsell missing a half-court heave before overtime.
“I still don’t know, because we saw it on the scoreboard and it sure looked like it was our ball. I know 18,000 people thought it was our ball. But they said they saw some other view of it and the kid hit it and my guy’s fingertip or something was still on it,” Kampe said. “So two seconds, we didn’t get the last shot, and again, I’m going to live with that. It’s going to be hard.”
Oakland’s fairy tale then reached midnight. After making 10 from beyond the arc in his national coming-out performance Thursday against Kentucky, Gohlke made six 3-pointers and scored 22 points, but missed his final four shots — all in overtime — as Oakland shot 1-of-9 in the final five minutes. Diarra and Ben Middlebrooks both fouled out in overtime, but the Wolfpack outscored Oakland 13-7, with Burns dropping six in the frame.
Unlike Kentucky, the Wolfpack executed a tight perimeter defensive strategy on Gohlke — led by Morsell, a Prince George’s County native and St. John’s College High grad.
“I’ve never played anyone who could shoot at that caliber,” Morsell said. “One thing that Jack does, he tests your awareness because he’s always moving, and in order to kind of slow him down you just gotta be in shape and you just gotta be aware where he is at all times. He tested that.”
Gohlke, who didn’t start for the Golden Grizzlies, checked in at the 16:48 mark. He had less space to work with than in Oakland’s first round game against Kentucky, leading to a 3-of-6 mark from three instead of the seven makes that he had in the first half on Thursday. He became an overnight sensation after nearly tying the NCAA Tournament single-game 3-point mark in the upset of Kentucky. While his collegiate story ends here, the 24-year-old - only a year younger than Oakland’s program has been in D-I - understands the impact their weekend will have for years to come.
“For me, I’ve been through so much basketball and a lot of college basketball seasons, and this was probably the most enjoyable one I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a bunch of amazing ones. But having gone through that many, I feel like I kind of — throughout this whole season I’ve kind of been reflecting on it as it goes. And just trying to appreciate it as much as possible,” Gohlke said. “And I think I did that, and I think our team did that as well.”
N.C. State led the entire first half, with its margin growing to as much as nine. After making five in a row, however, a 4-of-17 shooting stretch in the final 8:50, including nine-straight misses, let the Golden Grizzlies creep closer before the break, 32-29.
The Wolfpack would figure out their shooting woes, hitting 4-of-6 after the break to push the lead to 41-36. But Townsend, who only had 6 first-half points, eclipsed that mark in the first five minutes of the second half.
He scored 10 of Oakland’s first 13 points after halftime — Gohlke, of course, contributed the other three — as the Golden Grizzlies tied the game at 42.
Burns then did what he does best. Like a bull bearing down on a defenseless matador, Burns continued his March dominance under the basket, feeling the energy of the sold-out crowd rise every time his hands touched the ball.
“When D.J. gets going it makes it easier for us guards on the perimeter. He draws so much attention, and all we could do is just kind of stay ready, stay ready to shoot, stay ready to make a play,” Morsell said. “But when he’s going, we’re very hard to stop.”
Townsend rose and matched his level in the final 25 minutes, but after creating a shockwave of attention for his university across two days - Kampe said the school’s website had crashed after the Kentucky win - their tournament experience reached its end.
“You know, for me, I always wanted to come here and hang banners and make these memories and put Oakland on the map,” Townsend said. “I’m just glad and proud of this team for what we’ve done for this university. I think people now hopefully will know that we’re not in California and we’re from Michigan now.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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