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Oakland Wins in Opening Round

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From Times Wire Reports

Rawle Marshall had 29 points and Cortney Scott added 21 on Tuesday night to lead Oakland to a 79-69 victory over Alabama A&M; in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at Dayton, Ohio.

Oakland, situated in Rochester, Mich., with an enrollment of 16,500, moved to Division I only eight years ago and was making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament. As a reward for the victory, the Golden Grizzlies (13-18) advance to play powerhouse North Carolina (27-4) on Friday in Charlotte, N.C. The Tar Heels are seeded No. 1 in the Syracuse Regional.

“There can’t be too many colleges who can say they won a game in the NCAA tournament,” a grinning Marshall said. “We’ll ride this momentum and see how far it takes us.”

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Oakland won its sixth in a row, including three upsets in as many days last week by a combined seven points to take the Mid-Continent Conference title, giving it a berth in the field of 65.

“If we win the national championship, we’ll finally get to 19-18,” Coach Greg Kampe said with a laugh.

Oakland became the fifth team with a losing record to win an NCAA tournament game, following Bradley in 1955 and the last three years at the Dayton opening round: Siena in 2002, North Carolina Asheville in 2003 and Florida A&M; a year ago.

Obie Trotter scored 24 points for Alabama A&M; (18-14), champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

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Duke guard Sean Dockery returned to practice for the first time since injuring his right knee last month and is expected to play Friday in the Blue Devils’ NCAA tournament opener against Delaware State.

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Pittsburgh’s trip to Boise, Idaho, for a first-round game Thursday against Pacific got off to a rough start, according to ESPN.com.

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The Panthers’ plane stopped in Sioux Falls, S.D., to refuel, only for officials to discover a mechanical problem. After the problem could not be fixed, officials called for another plane to be flown in. But that plane didn’t arrive in Sioux Falls until the evening, 11 hours after the Panthers had departed Pittsburgh.

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Kansas State announced that Jim Wooldridge will be back as coach. Despite a 17-12 record, the Wildcats were not invited to compete in the National Invitation Tournament.... New Mexico Coach Ritchie McKay was given a three-year contract extension after guiding the Lobos to their first NCAA tournament appearance in six seasons. The extension keeps McKay with the school through the 2009-10 season.... Florida Atlantic fired Sidney Green as coach after the team finished 10-17. Green, who was the Owls’ coach for six seasons and had a record of 54-121, will be reassigned within the university.... Cal State Los Angeles named assistant Stephen Thompson as interim coach. Dave Yanai stepped down last week as coach.... Jim Tomey resigned as women’s coach at San Diego State after going 25-58 in three seasons.

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