DAYTON, Ohio - 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&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.

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&M a year ago.

Obie Trotter scored 24 points and Joseph Martin added 22 for Alabama A&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!"

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&M, Kansas State and Saint Louis.

Marshall, a wiry, 6-foot-7 senior swingman expected to be taken in the NBA draft , was the focal point for the Golden Grizzlies. He was 9-of-16 from the field, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and 8-of-11 in free throws.