Mastodons Move to Semifinals After 19-Point Win

Sunday, March 10

Sioux Falls, S.D.

7 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

16-16

Oakland (Summit League Quarterfinals)

16-16

IPFW

Oakland

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media

Mastodons Move to Semifinals After 19-Point Win

3/10/2013 9:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (.pdf) | BOX SCORE

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The IPFW Mastodons won their sixth straight game, and their 2013 Summit League Tournament opener with a 91-72 win over Oakland, completing the three-game series sweep over the Golden Grizzlies.

With the win, the Mastodons will face tournament top seed South Dakota State on Monday evening in a 6 p.m. tip-off, with the winner advancing to the league title game.

The win evens IPFW's record at 16-16 on the season, while Oakland falls to 16-16. The team's six-game win streak is the largest in the program's NCAA Division I history, while the 19-point margin was the largest in a 4/5 match-up since 1999.

Frank Gaines scored a game-high 23 points, hitting 7-of-12 shots from the field and 7-of-10 free throws, while Luis Jacobo scored 18, hitting 4-of-5 from long range, and 15 from Michael Kibiloski, who made 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Two others, Mario Hines and Joe Edwards, each scored nine, with Pierre Bland chipping in seven and a game-high five assists.

IPFW hit 30-of-48 shots from the field in the game (62.5%), the first team to shoot better than 60 percent since Oakland accomplished the feat against IPFW in 2009 in the league semifinal. IPFW also hit 12-of-20 from long range, the fourth-most made three-point baskets in Summit League tournament history, while becoming the first team since 2007 to shoot better than 60 percent from beyond the arc.

Oakland scored first when Ryan Bass hit a pair of free throws 34 seconds into the game, before IPFW rattled off the next six on back-to-back three-pointers from Gaines and Jacobo, and the 'Dons didn't trail again in the game.

The Golden Grizzlies cut the gap to one at 8-7, before IPFW ran off a 25-7 run to take their largest lead of the game at 33-14 with 8:20 to play in the first half. The Mastodon run early was aided behind a stretch of making eight-of-nine three-point attempts, with four of those coming from Jacobo.

Leading by 18 with 7:38 to play, Oakland fought back, closing to within eight when Travis Bader converted a lay-in with two seconds left in the first half, sending the Mastodons into the locker room with a 38-30 first-half lead.

After seeing their advantage maintained at eight with 17:30 to play, IPFW took off on a 14-5 streak to lead by 17 three minutes later. The feisty Oakland squad would not back down, climbing to within as few as seven at 67-60 with 7:11 to play, and by nine at 78-69 with just under four minutes left on the clock.

Leading by nine, the Mastodons closed the game on a 13-3 run to give the game its 91-72 final score.

Jacobo pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, as the Mastodons out-rebounded the Grizzlies 44-to-26, as IPFW also dished out 20 assists on 30 baskets made in the game.

Oakland was led by Travis Bader who scored 18 points, while Ryan Bass added 16, and Dante Williams 14.

~ Feel the Rumble ~