DANVILLE — SUNY Niagara spent most of Monday morning staring at deficit against Oakland Community College.
But, the Thunderwolves (26-6) rallied in the second half to force overtime and in the extra session they pulled out a 74-71 victory over the Owls at the Mary Miller Center in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament.
Freshman guard Chioke Marshall scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and overtime for Niagara, one of four at-large teams to be selected for this year’s tournament. Marshall’s 27 points were also part of the Thunderwolves 41-0 advantage in bench scoring over the Owls.
Also scoring in double digits for Niagara was Jamyier Patton with 16, while Camron Dyer and Daniel Reyes shared team-high honors with 6 rebounds each.
Oakland (23-9) had four players finishing in double digits with Justin Latham finishing with a team-high 22 followed by Jordan Wright with 19, Nick Speiser had 16 and Linden Holder contributed 14 in the losing effort.
Niagara advances to play top-seeded and undefeated Pima Community College (32-0). That game is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
Oakland will play Southeast Community College in a consolation game on Wednesday.