Leathernecks slap Oakland with sixth straight loss
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ROCHESTER HILLS — Western Michigan solved a long-standing riddle Thursday night: How to beat Oakland University.
The Leathernecks defeated Oakland for only the fifth time in school history and for only the third time on the road with a resounding 71-61 victory inside the Athletics Center O’rena.
The 61 points is the fifth lowest total ever scored by the Grizzlies inside the O’rena, which opened in 1998-99, and is the lowest in seven seasons. The loss is also the first time since 2004-05 school year that Oakland has dropped three straight games at home.
“It’s rough. We haven’t been in this position in a while,” said senior guard Reggie Hamilton. “It’s back to the drawing board.”
ROADBLOCK:Oakland University's Reggie Hamilton and the Golden Grizzlies ran into another blockade Thursday night in dropping their sixth straight game to Western Illinois. Courtesy Photo | Jose Juarez, Oakland Athletics Communications, www.ougrizzlies.com
Following a trend of slow starts in the past months, OU could not get untracked against the Leathernecks.
Western Illinois never trailed in gaining its first win at the O’rena in six seasons. Oakland is now 22-5 all-time against WIU.
The Leathernecks outrebounded Oakland 26-23 and forced the Grizzlies into 20 turnovers, their second-most of the season. The loss also marked Oakland’s second-lowest output of the campaign, which began on Nov. 14 with a 74-57 loss to then-nationally-ranked Alabama.
“Our error rate was terrible,” noted Oakland coach Greg Kampe. “Thirty-two percent of our offense was turnovers. That’s one out of every three possessions that we turned the ball over. You’re not going to win basketball games at the college Division I level and I can guarantee that. We turned the ball over every third possession. We shot ourselves in the foot.”
Oakland (8-10, 2-3) used an 8-2 run to close to within 53-50 on a three-point play with 5:52 left in the contest. The Grizzlies would get no closer.
The Leathernecks responded with a 12-0 run to push the lead to 65-50 with 3:01 left to help seal the deal.
The Golden Grizzlies, who have lost six straight for the first time since starting the 2004-05 school year when they opened 0-7.
WIU began the game with a 13-6 run over the first seven-plus minutes and later led 18-10.
Oakland slowly cut into the lead to tied the game at 33-33 at the half thanks to two free throws by Laval Lucas-Perry. Three times the Grizzlies tied the game inside the final 5:15of the first half.
“I thought in the first half we did some really good things. I thought we defended pretty well,” said Kampe. “They shot the ball extremely well in the first half. But they were contested shots. They did a good job off dribble penetration. Obviously, that’s our weak spot. Our defense in the first half was statistically pretty good.”
Western Illinois (8-5, 2-3) scored the first four points of the second half and never allowed OU to close to under two points the rest of the half. WIU outscored Oakland 38-28 over the final 20 minutes.
Hamilton, who came in third in the NCAA Division I in scoring at 23.1 points a contest, was held 7.5 points below his average, scoring 16 points with four steals. Drew Valentine added 15 points and Travis Bader came off the bench and scored 13 for Oakland, which was held 16 points shy of its 77 average.
Ceola Clark scored 19 with six assists to pace the Leathernecks. Tommie Tyler added 16 points, all in the first half, Terrell Parks chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds and Obi Emegano followed with 11 points for WIU.
“Western Illinois shot the ball very well against us in the second half, as everyone has (in recent games),” added Kampe. “We still guarded it better than we have recently. We just have to get better.”
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Category: Campus Clips, Colleges / Other, High School, Oakland University
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