National Basketball Association
Oakland 74, Clemson 69
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Where: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, South Carolina
Officials:
# Chuck Jones, # Jamie Luckie, # Raymond Styons
Attendance:
2785
By The Sports Xchange
CLEMSON, S.C. -- Martez Walker scored 23 points, and fellow guard Sherron Dorsey-Walker added 21 points as Oakland rallied from a 20-point, second-half deficit to upset Clemson 74-69 in a first-round National Invitation Tournament game Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Oakland, a No. 7 seed in the NIT, trailed by 19 points at halftime and 20 early in the second half. The Golden Grizzlies were still behind by 10 points with 9:23 remaining but proceeded to go on a 19-2 run to take command.
Walker scored 18 points in the second half while Dorsey-Walker tallied 17 of his points after the break to key the Grizzlies' dramatic turnaround. Oakland (25-8) shot 51.3 percent in the second half. Clemson, which connected at a 48.6 percent clip in the opening 20 minutes, shot just 26.7 percent in the second half.
The Grizzlies, who won the Horizon League regular-season title but lost in the league tournament to ninth-seeded Youngstown State, won for the 10th time in 11 games. They will advance to a second-round game against the winner of Tuesday night's Alabama-Richmond game.
Junior forward Xavier Hill-Mais added 10 points for Oakland.
Forward Jaron Blossomgame scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds in his final game for the Tigers, while sophomore guard Shelton Mitchell added 13 points.
Clemson, which finished 12th in the Atlantic Coast Conference and was a No. 2 seed in its NIT bracket, concluded its season 17-16, losing 11 games by six points or fewer.
On Tuesday night, it appeared the Tigers might reverse that trend as they closed the first half on a 20-2 run -- capped by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by guard Gabe DeVoe -- to take a 43-24 lead into the break.
However, the smaller Grizzlies came up big in the second half and wound up outrebounding Clemson by a 45-32 margin and scoring 17 second-chance points to the Tigers' 11.
Top Game Performances
Oakland |
|
Clemson |
Martez Walker 23 |
Scoring |
Jaron Blossomgame 24 |
Nick Daniels 3 |
Assists |
Shelton Mitchell 6 |
Isaiah Brock 12 |
Rebounds |
Sidy Djitte 11 |
Martez Walker 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Jaron Blossomgame 6 |
Brailen Neely 1 |
Steals |
Marcquise Reed 3 |
Isaiah Brock 4 |
Blocks |
Jaron Blossomgame 3 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Oakland
|
74 |
44.3 |
9-26 |
11-16 |
10 |
39 |
5 |
2 |
16 |
Clemson
|
69 |
38.8 |
7-20 |
10-11 |
16 |
31 |
7 |
8 |
10 |