March 8, 2010
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Oakland University (25-8) went a perfect 19-for-19 from the free throw line and got a double-double from junior Keith Benson with 17 points and 17 rebounds to defeat IPFW (16-15), 71-58, in Summit League Tournament semifinal action on Monday night in Sioux Falls Arena.
"Our free throws and defense won this game," said OU coach Greg Kampe who's team is making their fourth title game appearance in six seasons. "We had a bad final five minutes of the first half, but we really defended in the second half. We had to because the shots were not falling."
Sophomore Blake Cushingberry scored a season-high 23 points and had three steals in a season-high 35 minutes. Junior Larry Wright pushed his consecutive free throws made streak to 39 with a 6-for-6 performance, scoring 11 points. Senior Johnathon Jones tallied 11 points and five assists.
Benson's 17 rebounds ranks third all-time in tournament history for any single game, as well as his six blocked shots. The Golden Grizzlies broke the single-season school record with their 10th straight win and 25th victory overall.
OU held the Mastodons to just 3-of-11 from three in the second half after they shot 50 percent (6-12) from long range in the opening 20 minutes, leading by one at the break, 33-32.
The Grizzlies won the battle of the boards, 40-31, and limited IPFW to just one free throw in the game. OU is 4-8 this season when trailing at the half. The 71 points scored was the lowest point total for the Grizzlies during the 10-game winning streak.
The game continued to be tight until OU used a 16-2 second-half run where Cushingberry scored 10 of his 23 during that stretch to open up a 16-point lead, 63-47, with 2:14 remaining in the game. OU went 8-for-8 over the final two minutes to close out the game.
IPFW was led by Nick Daniels with 16 points. Antwone Snead had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Zach Plackemeier scored 11 for the Mastodons.
OU will face the winner of No. 2 seed IUPUI (23-9) and No. 3 seed Oral Roberts (20-12) for the league's automatic NCAA berth on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2 and will air on OU's flagship station WDFN-AM (1130).
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