Oakland took down Horizon-leading Green Bay, 69-66. Photo/Horizon League
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he tilt featuring arguably the Horizon League’s two best point guards did not disappoint Thursday night.
Green Bay’s floor general Keifer Sykes had a chance to make the biggest statement of the night, but his potential game-tying 3-pointer with five seconds to go fell short, giving Oakland a 69-66 win over one of the nation’s best mid-majors.
The Phoenix did a good job screening forward Dante Williams off Sykes, but Sykes’ quality look over a lunging Nick Daniels was rebounded by the sophomore Oakland guard and tossed to teammate Kahlil Felder as the clock expired.
“This was a very, very good win for us,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “We’re young and we make a bunch of mistakes, and we’re learning from them. We were able to survive some mistakes tonight that we learned from, and it’ll make us better.”
Several of those mistakes helped Green Bay cut down the nine-point lead that Oakland (6-12, 2-2 Horizon League) possessed with 3:44 remaining, including a turnover by Felder that led to an alley-oop dunk thrown down by Phoenix forward Greg Mays to cut the lead to three with just over two minutes left. Felder’s pair of free throws on the next possession served as the Golden Grizzlies’ last points of the game. Both teams left chances on the board after that to improve their chances, but Jalen Hayes missed a pair of attempts from the stripe, and Sykes couldn’t sink the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, either.
Another basket by Sykes off an Oakland turnover with 48 seconds on the clock ended up being the final points of the contest. Kampe purposely instructed Felder to milk the clock down to 17 seconds and five left on the shot clock before calling a timeout, but Tommie McCune couldn’t hit a leaning mid-range jumper and Mays secured the rebound to set up Green Bay’s (14-4, 3-1) final sequence.
Even considering his six turnovers, Felder came away looking the most impactful player on the O’rena floor. The sophomore point guard tied his season-high 10 assists while scoring a game-high 20 points, also chipping in six rebounds. The Golden Grizzlies shot 23-for-48 from the field, and out-rebounded Green Bay 33-28, including 12 of its own misses.
Despite Green Bay’s success in the paint, where they scored 38 points, their outside shooting paled in comparison, finishing 2-for-14 from beyond the arc. It was a weapon the Golden Grizzlies utilized whenever their leads — which they held for over 37 minutes of the game — were threatened. Tommie McCune hit a pair of 3’s on his way to 11 points, and all of Max Hooper’s nine points came on his 3 of 7 three-point attempts.
Sykes finished with a team-high 19 points, but was subdued by the defending of Williams, as well as foul trouble. The conference’s leading scorer bowled over a planted McCune for the second time of the night to pick up his fourth personal foul with 7:09 left in the second half. He ended with five assists and turnovers a piece.
Mays contributed 15 points for the Phoenix, and Jordan Fouse – who started strong but picked up his second foul 10 minutes into the contest — scored 11 points and collected eight boards.
The win marked a stark turnaround from a 74-54 loss at rivals Detroit on Saturday as Oakland’s energy and hot shooting helped pounce on top early to hand the Phoenix their first conference loss.
“You want to talk about how tough our schedule is; that’s the fifth game we’ve played against a top-25 mid-major program,” Kampe said. “Let’s not talk about the six BCS games. You know, we’re 3-2 against those [mid-major] programs…so we might be a little bit better than people think.”
*For notes on the Oakland-Green Bay game, visit Press Row Sports.
