Oakland's NCAA tournament dreams are a longshot, but their aspirations nearly came crumbling down prematurely against Youngstown State in the first round of the Horizon League Conference Tournament. Down by two with 0.6 of a second remaining, Oakland coach Greg Kampe instructed his inbounder to run along the sideline and had sharpshooter Travis Bader sprint from the elbow, plant himself in the path of the shadowing defender and take two shots after getting run over. Poor Penguins forward Fletcher Larson never saw him coming.
Bader calmly nailed both free throws for two of his 39 points to send the game into overtime.
H/t The Dagger It may seem like a cheap call, and a bush-league play, but the defender should have been more self-aware of his surroundings and kept his head on a swivel. Kampe showed why he's won over 500 Division I games by conferring with the officials about the play beforehand to be sure they made the call. It was a veteran move.
“I go, ‘You got to call it now if he runs him over,’” Kampe told reporters afterwards. “He goes, ‘If he runs him over, Bader goes down and he goes down on top of him, I’ll call it.’ “
In overtime, the Golden Grizzlies would take care of business by winning 96-92.
