COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL: Oakland rallies past Detroit in overtime for series sweep
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
Dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — Friday’s was Valentine’s Day. But there was no love lost inside Oakland’s Athletics Center Orena.
Oakland and University of Detroit-Mercy, which renewed their rivalry this season after a dozen years, played in front of a boisterous, Orena record crowd of 4,065. Oakland rallied back from down five late in regulation and again by five points in overtime to sweep Detroit with an 83-82 Horizon League overtime victory
“It was a war, and I think it’s going to be this way all the time,” said veteran Oakland coach Greg Kampe, whose team has played Detroit only six times in its Division I era despite being less than 25 miles apart. “It was a heckuva atmosphere, intense, physical game…a war.”
Travis Bader scored 30 points for Oakland, although senior backcourt mate Duke Mondy corralled an offensive rebound and scored on a putback with 11 seconds left to OU up for good.
Mondy also guarded UDM’s Juwan Howard Jr. down the court inside the final seconds and didn’t allow him to get off a clean look. Howard finished with a game-high 33 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Titans (12-15, 5-7).
“(Howard’s) stronghand — he loves going right, but I forced him to go to his weak, hand left, forced him to make the wrong shot at the end,” said Mondy.
The final play was designed for Howard to deliver.
“We wanted to put the ball in the hands of our horse,” offered UDM coach Ray McCallum. “It was who got the last shot pretty much. We put Juwan in a tough situation. He played his guts out. We trust that Juwan can make a play by either getting a shot or finding a teammate.”
Oakland (10-17, 5-7) finished with five players in double figures, with freshman point guard Kahlil Felder recording his first triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Ralph Hill, in his first career start, scored 10, Corey Petros had 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks in the post and Dante Williams came off the bench and supplied 10 points and eight rebounds for Oakland, which cooled off after shooting 61 percent in the first half (45 percent for the game, 27-for-60).
Oakland led by as many as nine (54-44) in the second half, only to see UDM fight back to grab a 68-63 advantage with 7:18 to play in regulation following a triple from Matthew Grant.
The Golden Grizzlies fought back and forced overtime when Bader drilled a three-pointer from the corner with 26 ticks remaining that tied the game at 77-77.
Bader, the all-time NCAA leader in 3-pointers made, finished 8-for-13 from beyond the arc.
“Bader was Bader, but even though he’s the all-time leader ion threes, people got to see him play and there won’t be too many more (games here),” noted Kampe.
UDM led 11-4 early, only to see Oakland claw back for a 38-36 halftime lead.
Grant added 10 points while both Ugochukwu Njoku and Evan Bruinsma scored eight apiece for Detroit, which shot 41.1 percent from the floor (30-for-73).
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