DAYTON, Ohio—Jimel Cofer scored all 19 of his points in the second half and overtime to rally Grambling State from 14 points down and past Montana State 88–81 in a First Four battle of Midwest Region No. 16 seeds Wednesday night.
Grambling (21–14), in its first NCAA Tournament game in school history, advanced to play top-seeded Purdue on Friday in Indianapolis. The Boilermakers will be looking to atone for last year’s second-ever loss by a No. 1 seed to a No. 16, when Fairleigh Dickinson pulled off a shocking upset.
Grambling outscored Montana State 52–28 in the paint. The Tigers rallied from deficits of 13 points in the first half and 14 in the second half to take a 70–67 lead with two minutes left in regulation.
Montana State answered with back-to-back clutch 3-point field goals from Brian Goracke and Robert Ford III to tie the game. Eddie Turner III converted two free throws with 51.3 seconds remaining to give Montana State its final lead at 72–70. Cofer, who didn’t play in the first half, came off the bench for the Tigers and scored 13 points in the second half, including his layup with 34 seconds left to tie the game.
Overtime mirrored the end of regulation as Grambling took a 78–75 lead, only to see Ford drain his fifth 3-pointer with 2:02 left to forge a tie. But two free throws from Antwan Burnett with 1:43 left put Grambling ahead for good.
A thunderous put-back dunk with 55 seconds remaining by Jourdain Smith off a Tra'Michael Moton missed layup brought Tigers fans to their feet. The explosion was part of an 8–0 Grambling run that put the game out of reach.
Ford led all scorers with 26 points for Montana State (17–18). Ford was 9-for-13 from the field, including 6-of-8 from beyond the 3-point line. Goracke added 15 points, including four 3s, for the Bobcats, who were appearing in their third straight NCAA tournament after upsetting Montana in Saturday’s Big Sky Conference Tournament championship game.
Antwan Burnett and Jourdan Smith, who added a game-high nine rebounds, scored 18 points apiece for Grambling.
Montana State’s Brandon Walker missed a layup with nine seconds remaining, while Moton’s jumper was short off the iron at the other end as the buzzer sounded, sending the game to overtime.
