Although the game that was played between Oakland and Green Bay on Saturday was the regular season finale, it felt more like the games that are played in the month the calendar was just flipped too.
March.
Needing a win to secure the 6 seed in the upcoming Horizon League Tournament, Oakland came away with an 87-84 overtime victory at Green Bay.
Oakland looked a step slow for the majority of the game. While very early on things looked like they might come easy for Oakland, they found themselves down 36-32 at halftime, and that was only because of a late three by Jayson Woodrich.
Things got worse before they got better, as the Golden Grizzlies then were down 62-48 with under eight minutes to go, and still trailed by double figures with four minutes to play.
DQ Cole hit a three with under a minute left to cut it to two, and then went to the line in the closing seconds. Down 71-69 with just over five seconds on the clock, Cole missed the second free throw on purpose. Allen Mukeba grabbed one of his 11 rebounds on the night, and got a putback to tie the game and send the game to overtime. He had a career high 23 points, that included a signature career moment. He looks strong entering tournament play.
Oakland closed out a one to two possession game down the stretch in overtime by making free throws. Jayson Woodrich and DQ Cole went 6-6 from the stripe in the final seconds of the game, which seemed impossible for anyone watching the rest of the game. The Golden Grizzlies shot 18-31 from the free throw line on the night, and that was a big reason why it was such a struggle for most of the night on the scoreboard. Mukeba was 3-8, Buru Naivalurua was 4-8, and Isaiah Jones was 1-3.
Naivalurua posted about his averages, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds, and the aforementioned Jones scored eight points.
DQ Cole played one of his best games of the season, and was huge part of the winning effort during the comeback. His final line was 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while shooting 4-7 from deep. In his last three games he is averaging 17 points, eight rebounds and over five rebounds. He seems to be peaking at a good time.
Another guy who is playing his best basketball of the year is Jayson Woodrich. He had 14 points and seven rebounds in this one, and has had his three highest point totals of the season in his last three games. He is averaging 16 points and five rebounds while shooting 42% from three in his last three. Woodrich also tied the all time mark for games played in a career by a Horizon League player at 158.
The only other Golden Grizzly to score was Nassim Mashhour, who had seven. The freshman walk-on will end the regular season as the team’s fourth highest scorer in conference play at seven a game. He shot 46% from three on over three attempts per game in Horizon League play. He’s a name to watch in years to come.
With the win, Oakland moved to 14-17 and 11-9 in conference play as the regular season is now over. They secured the number six seed in the upcoming Horizon League tournament, which means they will host the number 11 seed at home in the first round.
The 11 seed? The very Green Bay team that they just played.
That tournament game will be on Tuesday at 7pm Eastern Time in Rochester. ESPN+ will carry the broadcast.
