Defense sparks Oakland’s victory over Ohio
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ATHENS, Ohio – What a difference a couple of days can make.
After giving up 95 points in a 24-point loss to West Virginia on Friday, Oakland returned to the win column for the first time since the Summit League Men’s Basketball Tournament last March with a 78-66 non-league triumph over Ohio University on Monday in a battle of NCAA tournament teams from last season.
Oakland (1-1) landed four players in double figures and held Ohio to a 1-for-15 start from the floor in the 12-point win. OU has now won 23 straight games when leading at the half, going back to last season.
“I am very pleased to come in here and win against a team like this in their building,” said Oakland coach Greg Kampe. “Our depth really showed tonight with our pro player (Keith Benson) on the bench in foul trouble. To win a game like this, shooting free throws the way we did down the stretch and turning the ball over, is great. Our defense was outstanding.
“We have a gauntlet in front of us so we have to compete,” added Kampe, whose squad gave up 29 fewer points in this game as compared to its loss to West Virginia. “In our mind this was a huge game. We know who Ohio is and what they’ve done. We had a total effort from all nine players.”
Sophomore Ledrick Eackles scored 18 points with six rebounds, senior Larry Wright tallied 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds and junior Reggie Hamilton, who sat out last season after transferring from UMKC, posted 14 points and three assists to lead Oakland, which had to play a long stretch of the first half without last year’s leading scorer Keith Benson.
Battling foul trouble, the 6-foot-11 Benson scored 10 points in the second half after missing 10 minutes in the first half and most of the second half before fouling out. Junior Ilija Milutinovic was solid with eight points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Grizzlies.
While the Bobcats were misfiring from the floor, Oakland was red hot. The Golden Grizzlies went on an 18-0 run in the first half to take a 22-6 lead with 7:48 remaining in the first half.
Both Benson and Will Hudson (six points, six rebounds) were lost with over eight minutes left in the first half due to foul trouble. That didn’t deter Oakland from building a 35-24 advantage at the break.
Oakland’s lead ballooned up to 16 points in the second half before Ohio (1-1) made one last attempt at a comeback. Tommy Freeman’s fifth three-pointer on the night with 38 seconds left cut the deficit to 74-65. That was as close as Ohio would get, as Freeman fouled out and the Bobcats score just one point after that shot.
Freeman led all scorers with 22 points, while D.J. Cooper added 18 points and seven rebounds and DeVaughn Washington nine points for Ohio, which shot just 33.8 (23-for-68) from the floor.
OU finished 23-for-50 from the field (46 percent) 27-for-35 from the foul lines (77.1 percent).
“I’m very pleased with this. It showed our overall depth, experience, and ability to defend. It showed we are a veteran team and we can do a lot of different thing,” said Kampe. “This is an outstanding win for us. I don’t know how many games this team (Ohio) is going to lose, especially in this building this year. We feel really good.”
The Golden Grizzlies will visit Purdue on Nov. 21 for their next game.
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