INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - For the first time since 2011, the Oakland University men's basketball team is heading to the NCAA Tournament as the Golden Grizzlies defeated the Panthers, 83-76, tonight in the championship game of the 2024 Barbasol Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship inside the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
 
It's the fourth Division I tournament berth for Oakland and its first since 2011 when it was a part of the Summit League. The Golden Grizzlies now await its opponent and path to a National Championship which will be unveiled Sunday, March 17 during the 2024 Selection Sunday Show, slated for 6:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (23-11, 15-5 HL) were led by Horizon League Tournament MVP Trey Townsend who shot 12-of-22 from the floor with a career-high 38 points. He also tallied another double-double on the season with 11 boards as 14 points came from the charity stripe. Chris Conway also tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards, while All-Tournament Team selection Jack Gohlke sank five threes for his 15 points.
 
The Panthers (20-15, 12-8 HL) were led by Erik Pratt with his 16 points, while four separate Panthers recorded double-digit points. All-Tournament Team selection BJ Freeman brought down three boards to go with his 14 points.
 
Contrary to the semifinal game, the Golden Grizzlies got on the board right away as Conway was wide open in the paint for an early jumper. The Panthers answered, but Osei Price banked home a three the following possession. The Panthers grabbed two, but a Blake Lampman three, followed by a fastbreak layup from DQ Cole put Oakland up six.
 
The Panthers quickly cut the game to one, but Townsend pushed it to three after he muscled his way into the paint for a two. At 14-11, Cole was fed the ball and drove the baseline where he found an open Gohlke who pump faked, side-stepped and drilled a three. Milwaukee answered with a three of its own, followed by a two, but Lampman eased the quick run as he hit from downtown to stay ahead.
 
The Golden Grizzlies remained ahead by a slim lead until it knotted things up at 22 apiece at the 9:05 mark. Both teams went on to trade twos as the Panthers nearly went ahead for the first time of the game but Conway swatted a ball away and scored two on the other end. Milwaukee, however, gained its first lead with a three to go ahead one with 5:41 to go in the half.
 
Milwaukee held the Golden Grizzlies scoreless for 3:18 as it grew its lead to three, but Townsend drew a shooting foul to end the drought with two makes from the charity stripe. The Golden Grizzlies jumped ahead in a big way Gohlke came down with a board and found a streaking Lampman who dunked it through. The Golden Grizzlies locked down on defense as it held Milwaukee scoreless for 2:12 as Gohlke extended the lead to four with an off-balanced three.
 
Gohlke intercepted a bad pass as time was ticking down as the team moved the ball around and fed it through to Townsend under the hoop for a difficult contested two. The Panthers had one final possession, with the shot clock turned off, to put some points on the board but Lampman put down the clamps and stole the ball to take the lead into the locker room, 37-33.
 
Townsend led the game after 20 with 11 points and was the only Golden Grizzly with double-digit points. Both teams sank 14 shots from the floor, as the Panthers shot at a .470 clip (14-of-30) while the Golden Grizzlies shot at a .450 clip (14-of-31). The Golden Grizzlies made a handful from range as the Panthers only made three, where Oakland led off the glass with three more boards at 18.
 
The Panthers opened up the second with a three-point play, but Gohlke answered as he sank his third from downtown. The Golden Grizzlies got into foul trouble early as it tacked on five fouls just 2:22 into the second half while the Panthers had zero. Gohlke kept it rolling as he continued to extend Oaklands lead when the Panthers cut it close as he sank his fourth three of the contest.
 
A foul, followed by a technical foul, gave Oakland four shots from the free throw line as it sank all four to push ahead, 49-42. The Panthers started to claw back as it had the opportunity to cut the lead to one, but a Tuburu Naivalurua block at the hoop gave Oakland the ball back, followed by a Townsend make. The Panthers grabbed its first lead of the second half as it went on a 10-2 run, but Townsend retook the Golden Grizzlies lead as he put one through.
 
The game teetered back-and-forth as Gohlke put the Golden Grizzlies one-point deficit to a two-point lead after a heavily contested three from the corner. The Golden Grizzlies foul trouble eased as it was the Panthers who committed seven fouls in the span the Golden Grizzlies committed two. Now in the bonus, Townsend went to the line with the game knotted at 58 and sank a pair for a two-point lead.
 
The Panthers grabbed its largest lead of the night at four with 6:16 to play as Townsend cut it back to two with a make. Townsend continued to pile it on as he went up for a hard two, was fouled, and saw his make drop before completing the three-point play to make it 66-64, Oakland. The Panthers tied things up, but Townsend continued as he made the Golden Grizzlies 10th consecutive point to go up with 3:43 to go.
 
Townsend made it a three-point game with 3:19 to play with two from the charity stripe for a career-high 31 points, but the Panthers tied things up as it hit one from three. Townsend added four more as he continued his tear as he tacked on 15 points in 6:24, and was the only Oakland scorer during that time. Conway broke Townsend's streak with a make, followed by a Cole rebound as he was fouled and made his two to make it 78-72 with 1:10 to go.
 
Oakland maintained its six-point lead as Townsend went to the line to widen the Golden Grizzlies gap with :36 second to play and put it to seven, but the Panthers drew a foul and cut it to five with :30 to play. Oakland sank another pair as it held on to win the championship game, 83-76.
 
In the second half, both teams struggled more than in the first half, as Oakland shot 13-of-31 (.419) from the floor while Milwaukee went 15-of-36 (.417) from the field. The Golden Grizzlies held the Panthers to just four threes while it tacked on eight total, as Oakland led off the glass with 41 boards compared to 37.