NC State ends the Jack Gohlke story with an OT victory over Oakland

No one had more fun Saturday night than D.J. Burns, the mountain of a man who scored 24 points to lead N.C. State to a 79-73 overtime victory against Oakland at PPG Paints Arena.

He played more than 42 of the game’s 45 minutes, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out four assists, hit 9 of 12 shots and even found time to keep up some banter with a cluster of Oakland fans trying to rattle him — good-natured from his end, not as pleasant coming the other way.

It didn’t work. Burns scored six of N.C. State’s 13 points in the extra five minutes to end what had been a dream season for Oakland (24-12), a mid-major No. 14 seed that was champion of the Horizon League and had eliminated No. 3 Kentucky on Thursday.

The No. 11 Wolfpack (24-14), who had won only eight games in January and February and the first nine days of March, advanced to the Sweet 16 by winning their seventh game in 12 days. They will meet the winner of Sunday’s game between Marquette and Colorado.

“I enjoy things like that,” the 6-foot-9, 275-pound Burns said of his running commentary with Oakland’s fans. “That’s a part of the game. The fans, they’re going to really come at you. You gotta talk. You gotta have some fun with it.”

Burns’ fun was in direct contrast to the despair felt by Oakland coach Greg Kampe and his players. As a matter of fact, Kampe – the 68-year-old who has been Oakland’s coach for 40 years and stayed up all night after the Kentucky game preparing for this one – laid the blame squarely on his own shoulders.

Oakland led for only six of the game’s 45 minutes and never enjoyed more than a two-point margin. But the Golden Grizzlies had the ball in the final 17 seconds of the second half, the score tied at 66 after Jack Gohlke’s two free throws.

Both teams called timeout, and Kampe thought he had a plan that would win the game: Feed Trey Townsend, who already had scored 21 of his game-high 30 points after halftime.

Instead, Oakland’s Chris Conway lost the ball out of bounds with one second left, his only turnover of the night while playing more than 41 minutes.

“Seventeen seconds to go and we didn’t get a shot off,” Kampe said. “There is only one person to blame and that’s me and I have to live with that. I’ll carry that with me the rest of my life. It’s going to be hard. Trust me, it’s going to be hard.”

Kampe wanted the ball to go to Townsend, facing the basket on the left elbow, while being guarded by Ben Middlebrooks, who had four fouls.

“He was supposed to rip and drive,” Kampe said. “He was either going to be the hero or he was going to go to the free-throw line or (officials) weren’t going to call (a foul). One of those three things were going to happen.

“We took too long to get in it. They came and denied the entry pass (to Townsend). It’s my fault because we had 17 seconds and we didn’t want to go until 10 or 12. If we had gone at 17, we could have handled that. That’s the mistake our coach made and it’s a big one.”

That was one turning point, but N.C. State set the tone from the opening tip by chasing Gohlke all over the court with three different players – Casey Morsell (most of the time), Michael O’Connell and D.J. Horne.

Gohlke scored 22 points – 10 short of his monumental effort against Kentucky – but he missed 11 of his 17 attempted 3-pointers.

“One thing that Jack does,” Morsell said, “he tests your awareness because he’s always moving. In order to kind of slow him down, you just have to be in shape.”

Gohlke was not in the starting lineup – that’s normal procedure for the Grizzlies – but he played every minute after entering three minutes into the game.

“That was the loudest roar of the night. It was electric,” Kampe said of how the crowd welcomed Gohlke onto the floor.

Gohkle’s instant celebrity over three days in Pittsburgh was one bright spot in a dark night for Kampe.

“The legend of Jack Gohlke is going to go on and Oakland’s going to be associated with that,” the coach said.

While the Wolfpack chased Gohlke around the floor, Kampe shifted his strategy after halftime and ran the offense through Townsend, who played all 45 minutes. He responded by finishing the game with 11 field goals in 25 attempts — many while jostling with Burns and Middlebrooks – and he even hit two 3-pointers.

“I think he got fouled a lot tonight,” Kampe said. “How many free throws did he shoot? Eight. If that was in our league and that happened, he would have shot 20 because that’s the only way to stop him is to knock him to the ground.”

On the other end of the floor, the key for the Wolfpack was getting scoring support for Burns. O’Connell scored 12 points and Horne, Mohamed Diarra and Morsell 11 each. Jayden Taylor came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer that opened up a five-point lead with 1:13 left in overtime.

N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts, whose team finished 10th in the ACC and lost both of its games against Pitt, likened the game to a boxing match.

“It was a back-and-forth game,” he said. “We bent a little, but we never broke. We made big plays when we had to have big plays. And it just shows you the growth of, obviously, this team and how they’re locked in and they’re focused.

“This was a team that most people didn’t think we could even make it out of (Washington) D.C. (in the ACC Tournament).”

N.C. State won that championship, and now Burns is ready to make room for anyone who wants to jump on the bandwagon.

“I’m just saying welcome back,” he said. “They didn’t really believe in us. They probably still don’t, but that doesn’t matter to us. We’re just going to stay together.

“If you’re supporting us, thank you. If not, that’s what it is.”