Losing team wins NCAA tournament opener

Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio -- Oakland's first trip to the NCAA tournament will last at least two games. Golden Grizzlies, meet the Tar Heels.

Oakland broke open a tight game behind Rawle Marshall's 29 points and Cortney Scott's 21 to beat Alabama A&M 79-69 Tuesday night in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at the University of Dayton.

The Golden Grizzlies (13-18) won their sixth game in a row, including three upsets in as many days last week by a combined seven points to take the Mid-Continent Conference title, giving them a berth in the field of 65.

Now they have a first-round game against top-seeded North Carolina on Friday night -- in Charlotte, no less.

Oakland became only the fifth team with a losing record to win an NCAA tournament game, following Bradley in 1955 and the last three years at the Dayton opening round: Siena in 2002, UNC-Asheville in 2003 and Florida A&M a year ago.

Obie Trotter scored 24 points and Joseph Martin added 22 for Alabama A&M (18-14), regular-season and tournament champs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Both teams were making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Oakland made the jump from Division II to Division I in the 1997-98 season.

As the Golden Grizzlies stretched the lead to 21 points with 5 minutes left, the emboldened Oakland student section began chanting, ''We want Tar Heels! We want Tar Heels!''

The turnaround is almost incomprehensible for a team that was 7-18 and riding a three-game skid just 18 days earlier. Almost as incredible, Oakland opened the season 0-7, losing by an average of 13 points a game, against a who's who of powerhouses: Illinois, Marquette, Xavier, Missouri, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Saint Louis.

Marshall, a wiry, 6-foot-7 senior swingman expected to be taken in the NBA draft this spring, was the focal point for the Golden Grizzlies most of the night.

He was 9-of-16 from the field, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and 8-of-11 in free throws, to go with nine rebounds and three assists.

Marshall's most dramatic play came in the opening half. He took a pass on the right elbow, pump-faked a defender off his feet and then sliced through the lane for a soaring dunk and a foul. A crowd of 8,254 roared its approval.

Ahead 38-35 at the break, Oakland scored 16 of the first 18 points in the second half.

Patrick McCloskey, who had sleepwalked through the first half with no points and two rebounds in 12 minutes, led the surge with five points, five rebounds and a blocked shot. The 260-pound Scott, a transfer from Iowa, added four points on two twisting inside moves, Brandon Cassise came off the bench for two baskets and Marshall hit a 3-pointer.

The Rochester, Mich., school with an enrollment of 16,500 pushed the lead to 54-37 and the lead never dropped below double digits.

One of the nation's best at avoiding turnovers, the Golden Grizzlies had 10 in the first 20 minutes, leading to seven A&M points.