Nelson’s 365 points carries Oakland to NCAA bid with 76-64 win over IUPUI in Summit final

Nelson carries Oakland to Summit title, NCAA berth

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Derick Nelson scored a career-high 36 points and slow-starting Oakland, Mich., defeated IUPUI 76-64 in the Summit League championship game to advance to the NCAA tournament Tuesday night.

The Grizzlies earned their second NCAA berth with their school-record 11th consecutive win. Their only other NCAA appearance was in 2005.

Playing with a broken nose suffered in Oakland’s first-round win over UMKC, Nelson provided a spark after top-seeded Oakland missed its first eight shots against the No. 2 Jaguars.

Nelson turned a steal into a layup for Oakland’s first field goal five minutes into the game and then scored 11 straight points for his team.

Larry Wright added 16 points, and Keith Benson had 17 rebounds to go with his eight points.

Alex Young led IUPUI with 19 points, while Robert Glenn added 18 and Leroy Nobles 14.

Nelson’s 3-pointer with 6:33 left in the first half gave Oakland the lead, and his fastbreak layup early in the second half pushed the advantage to double digits.

Nelson, named the tournament’s MVP, broke his nose in the first half of Saturday’s game against UMKC. He scored 14 points despite playing just 18 minutes.

He had seven points in 23 minutes against IPFW in Monday’s semifinals.

Nelson missed his first shot, then made nine of the next 11 and finished 15 of 23, including 3 for 8 on 3-pointers.

Nelson eclipsed his previous career high of 31 points against Michigan in 2007.

He missed all but two games last season with a broken foot and averaged 11.7 points for the season coming into Tuesday’s game.

IUPUI and Oakland split two regular-season games, with the Jaguars winning the last meeting 78-54 in January.

Tuesday’s game was interrupted for seven minutes in the first half because of a scoreboard malfunction.