North Carolina State Outlasts Oakland in an Overtime Thriller

For the only game in the South Region on today's slate, it exceeded expectations as one of the games of the tournament so far. 11-seeded North Carolina State held true in a wire-to-wire effort despite the overtime period, winning 79-73. Unfortunately, Jack Gohlke’s Cinderella run came to an end at the hands of the Wolfpack. He finished the contest with 22 points and eight rebounds, shooting 6/17 from downtown. The stamina played a major role in the overtime, with Oakland running out of gas towards the tail end of the game. That would be enough to fall short in a pivotal South region matchup. 

In the first half of play, Greg Kampe’s 14-seeded squad was keeping up with the pace of the ACC champion Wolfpack. From the early start, we saw that DJ Burns was going to be a serious issue for the Golden Grizzlies. The height and strength Burns carries would put him in great positions all game for a dish or a take to the basket. With his batch of first-half points, he finished the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds. At the end of the first frame, NC State would see themselves up three in a dominantly paced first twenty minutes of action.

As the second half kept on, so did Oakland’s Trey Townsend who would end up going for 30 points and 13 boards. Although that was enough at times NC State would answer right back to their statement. Michael O’Connell would hit some vital three-pointers to keep the Wolfpack in the game. A balanced attack for the pack would help them get over the hump, with DJ Horne attacking the rim in the last few minutes. As Oakland had their three-point mirage come from Gohlke, NC State would see themselves heading into overtime. 

In overtime, the Golden Grizzlies would give up a run to NC State, and they saw themselves playing catchup for the remainder of the period. NC State keeps their hot streak going from the ACC Tournament into March Madness. The Wolfpack now have seven straight wins and can clearly have shown they can beat any team in many ways. The 11-seeded Wolfpack will be riding high into their next-round matchup in the Sweet Sixteen. They will face the winner of tomorrow's game between two-seeded Marquette and 10-seeded Colorado.