COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Cleveland State stuns Oakland to reach Horizon League finals
BY DAN STICKRADT
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dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
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DETROIT — Oakland’s March curse reared its ugly head once again.
Despite prevailing in the quarterfinals Sunday night for its first conference tournament win since 2014, fourth-seeded Oakland put together its poorest shooting effort in years, and eighth-seeded Cleveland State too advantage and pulled a 44-43 shocker in the Horizon League semifinals at Little Caesars Arena.
Cleveland State (12-22) advanced to Tuesday’s 7 p.m. conference finals against the winner of second-seeded Wright State and No. 6 Green Bay.
Senior guard Tyree Appleby drained a jumper with 32 seconds left, while Oakland’s Kendrick Nunn — the Horizon League Player of the Year — missed a potential game-winning shot with four seconds left.
Sophomore guard Kenny Carpenter scored 16 to pace Cleveland State all while drawing the defensive assignment of guarding Nunn.
“It was my teammates. They picked me up. I think it was during a time out that Appleby came to me and said ‘we need you.’ Then I hit a three, gained some confidence and stuck to guarding Nunn. And Appleby hit that big shot near the end that put us up.”
Senior forward Anthony Wright added 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Appleby eight points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Vikings.
Senior forward Jalen Hayes finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, Illinois transfer Nunn was held to 19 points and six rebounds for Oakland (19-14). Nunn and Hayes combined for 39 of the Grizzlies’ 43 points.
Previously, Oakland was held in check by Syracuse in a 74-50 defeat back in November.
“I can’t explain it,” said Kampe. “I don’t want to take anything away from Cleveland State. But it was us. We scored only (43) points. I don’t know if in my 40 years of coaching that we gave up 44 points and still lost.
“At the beginning of the season we were getting votes for the top 25,” continued Kampe. “But it was a horrible season for us. It started with a suspension by the NCAA for Hayes, then our 6-11 center (Brad Brechting) went down and missed 13 weeks and was supposed to be eight weeks. Xavier (Hill-Mais) opted to redshirt and did not play, Jaevin Cumberland hurt is ankle, came back and wanted to play and got hurt again. James Beck missed something like 17-20 games. Brandon Neely went down with a season-ending knee injury. And then the worst was when our point guard, Martez Walker, broke his foot in the Detroit game. He was our heart-and-soul. I have never seen a team with so many injuries.”
Sophomore center Isaiah Brock scored just two points but cleared 13 rebounds and five blocked shots — both game-highs — while Chris Palombizio scored the other two points for Oakland.
“”I’m a defensive coach and we hang our hat on defense,” said first-year Cleveland State coach Dennis Felton. “Oakland is so athletic, so talented with some great players. To hold them to 43 points says a lot to how far we’ve come.”
The Golden Grizzlies were held to a horrid 25 percent shooting night (14-for-56) and 20.8 percent from 3-point range (5-for-24).
Oakland went from 6:29 remaining in the first half to the 17:40 mark of the second half — a 8:49 stretch — without a single point.
Nunn and Hayes combined for all of OU’s first points, as the Golden Grizzlies held onto a 23-22 advantage at the break.
It was until Isaiah Brock’s two-handed slam off a Nick Daniels feed with 10:50 to play that a player other than Hayes or Nunn scored — and the basket gave OU a 34-32 cushion.
Cleveland State would not go away, closing with 12-9 run and holding Oakland scoreless for the final two minutes. Nunn’s 3-pointer with 2:07 left gave the Grizzlies their final lead at 43-42
1 kiss 0:03
4 Carpenter CSU’s first lead 18:45 second half lay-up 24-23
13 lady up 26-23
Hayes two free throws 25-26
hayes tip in 27-26 16:34 2nd half
hayes hook 29-26 13:!9
nun off re 2 pt 14:46 31-26
CS 4 3 29-31 12:24
cs 4 for three 32-32 11:06
10 dunk ***** 10:50 34-32
10 dunk ***** 10:50 34-32
cs 11 2 34-34 9:43
hayes 4 9:30 36-34 2-2 ft
cs 22 ft 35-36 8:58 1-2
4 37-36 cs 7:52
nun hook 6:49 38-37
4 jumper 5:43 39-38 css
15 4:53 ft 0-1 39-40 ou missed 0-12:56 No. 5 cs1-2 40-40
css 11 2pt 42-40m2:18\
nun for three 43-42 2:07
cs missed three and outback
1:13
nunn miss
5 rb 42.8 time out;
5 good 32.0 44-43
daniel miss `14.5
14.5
No. 5 Tyree Appleby ft 0-1 44-43 0-1
rebound OU’s beck
Oakland shot only xx percent (xx-for-xx) and just xx percent from3-point range….Oakland only had three players reach the scoring column…
Cleveland State.
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