PLAY-IN GAME Oakland has date against N. Carolina in 1st round

The Grizzlies knocked off Alabama A & amp;M to get a shot at the No. 1 seed.
DAYTON (AP) -- Oakland's first trip to the NCAA tournament will last at least two games. Golden Grizzlies, meet the Tar Heels.
Oakland broke open a tight game behind Rawle Marshall's 29 points and Cortney Scott's 21 to beat Alabama A & amp;M 79-69 Tuesday night in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at the University of Dayton.
The Golden Grizzlies (13-18) won their sixth game 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 them a berth in the field of 65.
Now they have a first-round game against top-seeded North Carolina on Friday night -- in Charlotte, no less.
Only the fifth time
Oakland became only 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, UNC-Asheville in 2003 and Florida A & amp;M a year ago.
Obie Trotter scored 24 points and Joseph Martin added 22 for Alabama A & amp;M (18-14), regular-season and tournament champs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Both teams were making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Oakland made the jump from Division II to Division I in the 1997-98 season.
As the Golden Grizzlies stretched the lead to 21 points with 5 minutes left, the emboldened Oakland student section began chanting, "We want Tar Heels! We want Tar Heels!"
Huge turnaround
The turnaround is almost incomprehensible for a team that was 7-18 and riding a three-game skid just 18 days earlier.
Almost as incredible, Oakland opened the season 0-7, losing by an average of 13 points a game, against a who's who of powerhouses: Illinois, Marquette, Xavier, Missouri, Texas A & amp;M, Kansas State and Saint Louis.
Marshall, a wiry, 6-foot-7 senior swingman expected to be taken in the NBA draft this spring, was the focal point for the Golden Grizzlies most of the night.
He was 9-of-16 from the field, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and 8-of-11 in free throws, to go with nine rebounds and three assists.
Marshall's most dramatic play came in the opening half. He took a pass on the right elbow, pump-faked a defender off his feet and then sliced through the lane for a soaring dunk and a foul. A crowd of 8,254 roared its approval.
Ahead 38-35 at the break, Oakland scored 16 of the first 18 points in the second half.