COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL: Oakland rebounds to dunk Green Bay
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — A true test of a team’s character can often be witnessed after a loss.
Oakland University bounded back from a gut-wrenching 93-85 home loss to Milwaukee on Thursday to topple Wisconsin-Green Bay, 111-93, Saturday in Horizon League play at the O’rena, keeping the Golden Grizzlies in second place in the 10-school conference with four games to play.
“If (Valparaiso) beats (third-place) Wright State and we go down and beat Wright State Monday, we will (likely) clinch second place,” said OU coach Greg Kampe. “We’ll get the tie-breaker. So our game with Wright State Monday will be huge.”
Oakland quickly turned the tables after the loss to Milwaukee two days earlier.
“It’s a long season and things happen,” continued Kampe. “We lost at home to Milwaukee, it’s not that we played that bad. We just didn’t make shots. Nobody would have thought that Michigan State would lose to Nebraska at home after the way they beat Michigan. But these are kids 18-22 years old and things happen over the course of a long season.”
Kay Felder, the NCAA Division national assist leader who also ranks in the top five in the nation in scoring, dazzled fans with an array of passes and assortment of buckets. He finished with a game-high 28 points, scoring 18 in the second half, and dished out eight assists, had four rebounds and swiped three steals for good measure in the victory.
“We knew we had to (bounce) back after that loss,” said Felder, who became the Horizon League’s all-time assist leader earlier in the week. “We came out in the second half and really pushed (the pace).”
Oakland, which finished 50.7 percent shooting from the floor (35-for-69), landed six players in double figures in the rout, exploding for a 59-point second half. Felder scored 11 points with an assist over five straight possessions in the second half to help OU build a commanding 96-65 advantage with 7:32 left.
That put the game well out of reach.
Nick Daniels, tabbed by Felder as being an “emotional leader”, scored 11 of OU’s first 20 points, and chipped in with 17 total points for the game with six assists.
Martez Walker (12 points), Percy Gibson (12 points, six rebounds), Jalen Hayes (12 points, three steals) and Sherron Dorsey-Walker (10 points, eight rebounds) all contributed in the Golden Grizzlies’ co-season-high of 111 points.
Max Hooper scored nine and 11-of-12 of OU’s active players reached the scoring column. Gibson pushed OU over the century mark for the fourth time this season with a lay-up with 6:17 remaining.
“That team (Green Bay) plays a style of game that we like to play against,” said Kampe. “When we go out and have fun, we sometimes can be very good. I
thought tonight we were really good.”
OU (18-9, 10-4) opened up the game with a 15-0 run before the game was even four minutes old.
Green Bay (15-11, 7-5) fought back to take leads of 25-24 and 28-26, the latter with 7:45 to go in the first half.
Oakland responded with a 26-14 run to go up 52-42 at the half and never allowed the Phoenix to make a threat in the second half.
Charles Cooper and Tevin Findlay both scored 18 points for Green Bay, while Carrington Love twined 12 points for the Phoenix.
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