2005 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2005 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place between Saturday, March 5, 2006 and Tuesday, March 8, 2006 at the John Q. Hammons Arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

2005 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2004–05
Teams8
SiteUnion Multipurpose Activity Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma
ChampionsOakland (1st title)
Winning coachGreg Kampe (1st title)

Bracket
Quarterfinals
March 5–6 		Semifinals
March 7 		Finals
March 8
         
1 Oral Roberts 82
8 Southern Utah 59
1 Oral Roberts 80
4 IUPUI 69
4 IUPUI 70
5 Western Illinois 62
1 Oral Roberts 60
7 Oakland 61
3 UMKC 63
7 Oakland 67
6 Chicago State 53
7 Oakland 56
3 Valparaiso 67
6 Chicago State 72

Championship game

On March 8, Oakland clinched their first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament – it was their eighth year in Division I – by dispatching league favorite Oral Roberts in their conference tournament final. The final score was 61–60. Pierre Dukes was the hero, hitting a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left. It was his only shot of the second half. Afterwards, Ken Tutt's desperation shot at the buzzer banked high off the rim and Oakland celebrated. After the game, Dukes said, "When I got it, I looked at the clock and there wasn't enough time to get it back to him, so I figured I'd let it fly." He was referring to Rawle Marshall who passed it to him for the winning shot. Dukes was shooting 35 percent from 3-point range and almost didn't even make the team.

Cortney Scott had 19 points for Oakland, while Marshall scored 18. Caleb Green had 13 points for the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in the loss, while Tutt added 12. While the Golden Eagles did lead at half time, 28–27, the Golden Grizzlies went on a 17–6 run to begin the second half, and Oral Roberts had to claw their way back to have the lead in the closing seconds.

The Golden Grizzlies started the season with seven consecutive losses and had the fourth-hardest non-conference strength of schedule at the end of the season.[1] At 12–18, they had the worst record of any qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. They won the play-in game against Alabama A&M, then lost to North Carolina in the first round.[2]

See also

References
  1. "2005 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings". kenpom.com. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  2. "Oakland in NCAA Tournament for first time". ESPN. Associated Press. March 9, 2005. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.