Oakland scores 110 to soar into Summit League finals
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — All season long, Oakland has had a variety of players step up and lead the charge. On Monday, it was Drew Valentine’s turn.
The sophomore scored a season-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds for good measure, leading Oakland past South Dakota State 110-90 in the Summit League semifinals at Sioux Falls Arena.
The top-seeded Golden Grizzlies (24-9) advanced to their third straight title game and fifth in seven years, where they will face second-seed Oral Roberts, an 83-77 winner over IUPUI in Monday’s other semifinal, at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the championship game.
“I don’t think their focus defensively was on (Valentine), and we were able to exploit that,” offered Oakland coach Greg Kampe. “He got some good looks and some wide-open threes. He’s roughly a 40 percent three-point shooter, so with the looks he had, he’s probably going to make some.”
Valentine took advantage of the Jackrabbits collapsing in the post trying to stop Keith Benson and Will Hudson from taking over down low.
“I was just trying to be aggressive,” said Valentine. “I feel like I’m a bigger asset to our team when I’m aggressive offensively.”
All five Golden Grizzlies starters scored in double figures, with Reggie Hamilton adding 20 points and eight assists, Benson twined 18 points with eight rebounds, Travis Bader chipped in with 16 points, making four 3-pointers, and Hudson contributed 12 points and nine rebounds for the Grizzlies.
“Obviously we’re pleased with the win,” said Kampe. “I was very concerned about playing a team as talented as the Jackrabbits are in front of 6,000 people. We felt a good early start could take them out. We came out 25-9. They did get into it a couple times after that, but we were never really in jeopardy. I have a great basketball team that played great tonight. When we play at that level we’re pretty good.”
Oakland has played a rugged schedule this season, with the likes of road games at Ohio State, Tennessee, Illinois, Purdue, West Virginia and Michigan, among others.
“That’s what we talked about in the locker room,” said Kampe. “This isn’t 22,000 at Tennessee, or 21,000 at Ohio State. This is 6,000 people.”
South Dakota State could never dwindle the deficit down to under 15 points in the second half, despite playing in its home state. Nate Wolters led the Jackrabbits (19-12) with 23 points and seven assists, Chad White added 21 points and Jordan Dykstra followed with 19 points.
South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy was concerned with Oakland’s height advantage, depth and athleticism.
“Basketball is a game of match-ups. We match up great with IPFW. We don’t match up well at all with Oakland,” offered Nagy. “Height-wise and physically, we don’t match up well. Those holes were exposed well. We just gave up so many shots early that we couldn’t catch up.”
South Dakota State led only once in the contest at 2-0. Oakland responded with a 25-7 run and extended the advantage to 59-43 by the break. The Golden Grizzlies, who shot 57.1 percent from the floor, did not allow the Jackrabbits close to within single digits in the entire second half, where they outscored SDSU 51-47.
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Category: Colleges / Other, Oakland University
