Oakland’s Ralph Hill makes a trip to the free-throw line. Photo/Press Row Sports
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] no-call may have doomed Oakland in the final seconds of Thursday night’s game at the Wolstein Center, but extended droughts of offense were an unarguable culprit as well.
The Golden Grizzlies fought back despite trailing large early, but ultimately fell to Cleveland State 65-61 in a game marked by large runs from each team.
The last came by Oakland (5-11, 1-1 Horizon League), who went on a 14-4 run that included a trio of 3-pointers, two from forward Dante Williams, to make it a 63-61 game in favor of the Vikings with just over two minutes to go.
Neither team would score again until after the definitive sequence in the final 30 seconds. An out-of-bounds block on Oakland point guard Khalil Felder’s shot by forward Anton Grady gave the Golden Grizzlies the ball on the baseline, but Felder, who received the ball on the ensuing in-bounds play from the baseline, appeared to draw contact on a game-tying attempt with 15 seconds remaining that received no whistle from the officials. Vikings freshman guard Terrell Hales took the ball the majority of the court for a breakaway layup with 10 seconds for the game’s final basket.
On a night where inconsistent officiating seemed to benefit Oakland — they had eight fouls compared to Cleveland State’s 17 — Oakland coach Greg Kampe appeared to believe a foul was committed by the swarm of defenders around Felder on the decisive play.
“We should have had a two-shot foul at the end, and we didn’t get it, so we lose,” Kampe said in a post-game radio interview.
The Vikings (9-8, 3-0) started the game on an electric 24-6 run that evoked similarities to Oakland’s first half in their last game against Valparaiso. Stagnant offense and a handful of early turnovers kept the Golden Grizzlies scoreless for the first seven minutes of the contest, but CSU went into a funk of their own, making just one shot over a near eight-minute stretch where Oakland went on a 22-3 run and closed the gap to four points by halftime.
“We really couldn’t play defense [early] because it was turnovers in transition,” Kampe said. “Once we got the turnover problem stopped, we were able to set our defense.”
Cleveland State opened the second half with another spurt, and guard Charlie Lee, who had all of his 13 points in the first half, transferred the hot hand to Andre Yates. All of his team-high 14 points came in the second half, most of them during that stretch where the Vikings re-established their double-digit lead before Oakland’s final run.
Oakland took the lead just once, owning a one-point margin after a bucket by Jalen Hayes with 3:02 remaining in the first half.
Williams delivered a performance for Oakland on both sides of the floor. Along with a game-high 15 points, his defense helped keep Trey Lewis, Cleveland State’s leading scorer (16.6 points per game), scoreless on just two shot attempts.
Felder had 13 points to go along with nine assists for the Golden Grizzlies.
The Vikings travel to Valpo next Saturday night, while Oakland head to Detroit for a rivalry tilt. The Golden Grizzlies took the series 3-0 in their first year as Horizon League members last season.
“It’s Detroit, and we’ll be ready,” Kampe said. “We don’t have to do anything else.”
Tip-off is at 3 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised locally on WADL TV Detroit, and is also available via WatchESPN.
*Reported by Press Row Sports.
