Valparaiso ends Oakland’s home streak at 16
UP-AND-IN: Oakland junior guard Reggie Hamilton lays in two points in the Golden Grizzlies' 103-102 loss to Valporaiso Tuesday. Courtesy Photo.
ROCHESTER, Mich. – The streak inside the O’Rena has come to an end.
Oakland University’s 16-game home streak came to a halt Tuesday, as visiting Valparaiso stunned the Golden Grizzlies 103-102 in the finals of the Lou Henson Award tournament.
Junior Reggie Hamilton and senior Larry Wright each high career highs in points with 26 and 24, respectively, but Valparaiso (9-4) shot 59 percent (36-57) to end Oakland University’s (7-7) 16-game home court winning streak with a 103-102 shootout victory inside the Athletics Center O’Rena on Tuesday night.
“They made every shot,” said Oakland coach Greg Kampe. “They were 19 of 28 from the floor in the second half. So we didn’t have many chances to get a defensive board. We shot 60 percent from the floor, so we didn’t have opportunities there as well. Rebounding is the end of defense. When they are scoring, that means we are not defending well.”
Valparaiso won the holiday tournament in record-setting fashion. Cory Johnson scored 33 points on 12-of-13 shooting for the Crusaders and earned Most Valuable Player honors. Brandon Wood poured in 35 points for the Crusaders.
The 103 points scored was the most-ever given up by Oakland in regulation time inside the O’Rena.
Senior Will Hudson chipped in with a double-double for the Golden Grizzlies, tallying 15 points and 12 rebounds, grabbing seven offensive boards. Sophomore Ledrick Eackles added 13, while freshman Travis Bader was a perfect 3-for-3 from long range and finished with 10 points for Oakland..
Both teams shot over 51 percent in the first half, but the Golden Grizzlies had 11 second-chance points and led by seven, 52-45, at the break. OU out-rebounded the Crusaders by 10 in the opening 20 minutes, 19-9.
The advantage Oakland enjoyed on the glass in the first half was flopped in the second half as Valpo outrebounded the Grizzlies 19-8 in the final 20 minutes. OU took its largest lead of the game at 10 points early in the second half, 55-45, with the first basket of the half.
Valpo responded with some hot shooting and outscored the Golden Grizzlies 27-10 over the next eight minutes to take a seven-point lead, 72-65, with 12:15 on the game clock. The Crusaders pushed their lead to 11 points with 5:59 remaining after a Johnson 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The Grizzlies found themselves down 12 with just over five minutes left, but scratched their way back with 3-pointers by Hamilton and Wright as the lead was just six, 89-83 (3:42). The fireworks continued to go off in the O’rena as Valpo got an NBA 3-pointer as the shot clock expired and then banked in a three the very next trip as it looked grim for the Grizzlies, 100-89, with only 59 seconds left.
Oakland did not give up and rallied, thanks to some missed free throws by Valpo, and some nifty three-point shooting by Bader and Wright. After Wright’s three, OU fouled and Valpo missed a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left. Wright then buried another 3-pointer with 4 seconds to go to bring the Golden Grizzlies within one, 103-102.
The Grizzlies again fouled, and once again, got a pair of missed free throws from the Crusaders, but Valpo got the loose ball rebound, but was tied up by an Oakland player. The Crusaders retained possession on the jump ball with 1.3 faithful seconds on the game clock. After the ball was touched going out of bounds by an OU player trying to make a steal, Valpo retained it again and just tossed it in for the final 0.2 seconds and held off the rally attempt by Oakland.
Joining VU’s Johnson on the all-tournament team was teammate Wood, OU’s Hamilton and Wright, along with Eastern Michigan’s Brandon Bowdry and Rochester College’s Michael Graham.
OU will travel to No. 2 Ohio State this Thursday night for an 8 p.m. tip.
Category: Campus Clips, Oakland University
