[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t wasn’t a breeze down the stretch, but Oakland men’s basketball shook the egg in the win column on Tuesday night.
A midway stretch that included a trio of 3-pointers from senior forward Dante Williams helped build a sizable lead for the Golden Grizzlies, who knocked of Chicago State, 70-57, in the second of three games on as many days as part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
The crowd in the O’rena looked like it might be in store for another nail-biter similar to Monday night’s affair with a game that was still tied at 28 with just under six minutes remaining in the first half. But Chicago State’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Clarke Rosenberg (18.2 points per game), picked up his second and third fouls and the Cougars went cold as Oakland began mounting a lead that become insurmountable after halftime. It would hit its peak with 12 minutes left in the game when Williams hit the last of those 3-pointers, giving the Golden Grizzlies a 17-point advantage.
Things got dicey in the final minutes, with the offense providing just two points while Tommie McCune sat for almost three minutes with four fouls, and the Cougars clawed their way back into it, pulling as close as seven with just over two minutes left. Khalil Felder was able to stave off the opposition, though, making two free throws and burying a mid-range jumper to push it back to a double-digit lead a minute later and putting the game out of reach for good.
“It was all me,” Kampe said. “We went zone to find out if we could play zone or not. We left their only two guys that can shoot (open), with one second on the shot clock or something, (Rosenberg) just yanked and pulled from about 40 (feet) and made it, but we let him…then somebody that can’t shoot made one, because they’re going in now.”
“If we stay man-to-man, I think we win by 18 or 20 points, but that’s what November’s about. We’ve got to play zone because we’re going to need it. We can’t just throw it out there at the Breslin Center in a two-point game with two or three minutes to go.”
Despite turning the ball over just two more times than the Cougars, Oakland got 18 points off turnovers, boosted by four steals from Felder, who finished with 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
In the interior for the Golden Grizzlies (1-4), Corey Petros made eight of his 11 attempts, getting plenty of feeds from teammates and didn’t have much trouble in the paint en route to a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds.
“I think last night the guys were a little bit stronger and bigger, they closed in more,” Petros said. “This team pressed the whole time, so I had easier shots when they were pressing.”
Petros and Oakland, save for Felder (6-for-6), still showed room for improvement with just 17 of 28 free-throws made, but the team did a better job on the boards than in the loss to Western Carolina.
McCune finished with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for the Golden Grizzlies.
The Cougars (2-4) ended the night shooting 40 percent from the field, including just 8-for-25 from distance. Rosenberg led a with a team-high 15 points, while Johnny Griffin added nine points and 10 rebounds.
The mid-major portion of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic hosted at the O’rena wraps up Wednesday night, with Chicago State taking on Western Carolina in the opener, followed by Oakland squaring off with Georgia State.
