Taylor basketball alums and current Ohio University basketball coaches John Groce and Chris Holtmann secured their first trip to the NCAA Tournament when the Bobcats defeated Akron 71-65 in overtime Saturday in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game played in Cleveland, Ohio.

Both Holtmann and Groce, who came to OU from his position as associate head coach at Ohio State University, played for and coached with current Trojan head coach and NAIA Hall of Famer Paul Patterson. Holtmann made his jump to Ohio from Gardner-Webb University, where he also served as an associate head coach.

The 1994 Taylor graduates were teammates on Patterson's 1994 team that was ranked No. 1 in the country and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NAIA National Tournament.

In just two seasons at Ohio, Groce, a native of Danville, Ind., has compiled an overall record of 36-31, including the school's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2004-05.

The Bobcats made the unlikely run in the MAC Tournament as the ninth seed by defeating Ball State in the opening round, followed by an 81-64 upset of top-seeded Kent State in the quarterfinals. Ohio then defeated Miami 54-42 to reach Saturday's championship game.

Taylor faced the Bobcats earlier this season in an exhibition contest played in Athens. Ohio joins Butler as the second team on the Trojans' exhibition schedule to earn a bid to this year's NCAA Tournament.

Groce, Holtmann and the rest of the Bobcats drew the No. 14 seed in the Midwest Regional and will take on third seeded Georgetown on Thursday in Providence, R.I.