Repeat Offender: Oakland claims second straight regular season Summit League title

RISE AVOVE THE REST: Keith Benson and his Oakland teammates clinched the outright Summit League championshipo for the econd year in a a row Thursday, squeaking out a 71-69 win over North Dakota State. Courtesy Ohoto

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

ROCHESTER HILLS — For the first time this season, Oakland failed to shoot over 50 percent from the floor in a Summit League men’s basketball game. In fact, a 40.4 percent performance was one of the team’s lowest overall in the past two years combined.

That didn’t deter the Golden Grizzlies plans of continuing their league dominance.

Oakland put the finishing touches on its second straight Summit League regular season championship Thursday, holding on for a 71-69 triumph over visiting North Dakota State at the Athletics Center O’rena.

Members of the Grizzlies squad cut down the nets following the game, as Oakland learned that Southern Utah sprung an 80-68 road upset of IUPUI to give Oakland the title outright with three games still to play before the conference tournament.

Oakland (19-9, 14-1) will have the No. 1 seed in the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., in two weeks and at the very least, clinched a berth in the NIT if the Grizzlies fail to reach the NCAA tournament.

“This is a different team, but we’ve clicked well together,” admitted senior Will Hudson. “We have good chemistry, so everyone connects really well on the court. It really helps our team. We feed off that.”

For the second straight game, Oakland had to go down to the waning seconds to prevail.

Clinging to a 71-69 lead, Oakland turned the ball over, giving the Bison (13-13, 7-9) a chance to force overtime or win the game. The Grizzlies forced NDSU’s Mike Fleet to throw up an errant three-point attempt with two seconds left to seal the deal.

“We were trying to post up (Michael) Tveidt,” admitted North Dakota State coach Saul Phillips of the game’s final play. “What you saw was the Option C or Option D. You don’t want to get caught up with on the road. You just want to keep the game alive. I wanted to get Tveidt the ball. It thought that would be our best chance to win.”

Oakland has only two losses in two years inside the league, although the Grizzlies have had to fight through five league games in the past month that finished with a single-digit margin.

“We wanted to send these two seniors (Will Hudson and Keith Benson), and the other senior, Larry Wright, out with a bang,” said junior Reggie Hamilton.

“You have to win championships many ways,” offered veteran Oakland coach Greg Kampe. “We got slaughtered on the boards, but we defended. We shot 54 percent from the floor (this season) and I think only twice not shot above 50 percent this season and tonight we shot 40 percent and we (still) won. It’s another way you have to win. Tonight we won with our defense.”

Oakland held the Bison to just 41 percent shooting from the field but found itself waged in a nip-and-tuck affair throughout.

Drew Valentine’s steal and layup gave Oakland a 38-37 lead the half. Neither team could build more than a nine-point advantage in the game — the first time in Summit League play this season that Oakland did not hold at least a double-digit lead at one point of a contest.

Oakland held its biggest lead at 65-56 when Hudson, playing with seven stitches above his left eye after taking a elbow to the head, nailed a pair of free throws. North Dakota State was able to rally and tie the contest at 68-68 on a pair of freebies from Freddy Coleman with 2:25 remaining.

Larry Wright’s layup with 2:03 to play put OU up for good at 70-68, with Hudson later adding a free throw for the Grizzlies and Tveidt a free throw for the Bison down the stretch.

Benson, the likely Player of the Year for the second straight campaign, rolled up 22 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots to pace Oakland in his second-to-last home game. Hamilton added 19 points and five assists, as the transfer enjoyed his first league title, and Hudson followed with a double-double that featured 15 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks and two assists for good measure.

Tveidt picked up 20 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for the Bison. Taylor Braun also had 14 points and 10 boards for North Dakota State, which held a 44-36 edge on the boards but committed 15 turnovers.

NDSU has suffered numerous close defeats this season and came a shot away from snapping OU’s 28-game league win streak inside the O’rena.

“That’s the story of our season. We’ve been in a bunch of close games, but we weren’t able to get it done,” said NDSU coach Saul Phillips, who is accustomed to close games over the years with Oakland. “Commend the Oakland players for finishing it out.

“Don’t let the numbers for you,” added Phillips. “(Oakland’s) 14-1 is 14-1, that’s pretty impressive.”

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Tags: college men's basketball, featured, summit league

Category: Oakland University