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Penguins upset No.1 seeded Oakland

DETROIT — Once again, it was Jordan Kaufman who became Oakland’s Achilles’ heel.

This time, the Youngstown State senior center lifted the ninth-seeded Penguins to the Horizon League semifinals with an 81-80 victory over top-seeded Oakland in Saturday’s quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament at Joe Louis Arena.

Cameron Morse, who had 34 points, seven rebounds and five assists, found Kaufman for a buzzer-beating layup Saturday to upend Oakland.

During the 2015-16 season, Kaufman had a tip in at the buzzer to beat the Golden Grizzlies in Rochester, Mich. YSU won that game in early January 2016, 100-98.

Obviously, Kaufman’s shot on Saturday had bigger ramifications since this lifted the Penguins (13-20) to their deepest run in a conference tournament since YSU made the Mid-Continent Conference semifinals in the 1998-99 season under then coach Dan Peters.

Kaufman had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

YSU faces fifth-seeded Wright State or fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky in the semifinals on Monday at 7 p.m. The Wright State-Northern Kentucky game is tonight at 7:30 p.m.

A 3-pointer by Sherron Dorsey-Walker and then a short jumper by Jalen Hayes gave Oakland (24-7) an 80-79 lead with 46 seconds left. Morse missed a 3 on the other end but, after the ball went out of bounds off YSU, Dorsey-Walker threw the inbound pass away and the Penguins took possession.

Morse missed a jumper, got his own offensive rebound and missed another before Hayes secured it for the Golden Grizzlies and was fouled with 11 seconds left. After Hayes, a 71.5 percent free-throw shooter this season, missed the front end of the one-and-one, Morse rose up and, as the defense converged, hit Kaufman in the lane for the wide-open winner.

Hayes had 27 points and 13 rebounds, Martez Walker scored 22 and Dorsey-Walker added 16 with eight assists for Oakland.

YSU shot 44.2 percent from the floor, including 48.5 percent in the second half, and outrebounded the Golden Grizzlies, 45-41.

The game featured 19 lead changes, including 10 in the second half, and nine ties, and the Penguins led for 22:17 compared to 13:34 for the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland never led by more than four points while the Penguins’ largest lead was 10 points with 4:43 left in the first half.

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