Oakland snapped a four-game losing streak to Western Michigan with a strong second-half performance that led to a 77-60 victory Monday night.
Greg Kampe emphasized the significance during the post-game press conference — even greater than the box of fine cigars gifted to him in honor of the triumph.
“It’s great to beat Western Michigan,” Kampe said. “I love Steve Hawkins. He and I have been going at it for years, and I told him before the game when were reminiscing, we beat — it was the first time I ever coached against him — it was at Quincy College — we beat them the first time Oakland had ever been in the NCAA [Division 2] Tournament. We went in there a 20-point underdog and we beat ’em.”
“It was probably the single-most important victory in Oakland history, because our administration at the time completely changed their opinion of basketball when we went to a Division 2 NCAA Tournament for the first time and won because of the media attention we got. All of the sudden, the [Detroit Free Press], the [Detroit] News were here, and it changed the path of Oakland basketball.”
“Hawk and I talked about it before the game, and talked about how he’d beaten us four in a row, twice in the O’rena, and to beat his team is quite an accomplishment for us, because I think he’s one of the top coaches there is, so it was a really good win for Oakland tonight.”
Leading by just four points at halftime, the Golden Grizzlies turned up the heat on both ends of the floor and stretched the advantage to 20 points less than eight minutes into the second act.
Only 2-of-12 on 3-pointers during the first 20 minutes, back-to-back triples by transfer guard Stevie Clark (15 points) and backcourt mate Sherron Dorsey-Walker boosted the lead to a dozen. The pair each hit another from beyond the arc, with Dorsey-Walker’s from the wing extending the Oakland (2-0) lead to 18. A number of those possessions were kick-started on the defensive end, where the effort was improved as the game wore on and fed the team in transition.
“The shooting’s the last thing I worry about with this team,” Kampe said. “This team can really shoot; 11 deep we can shoot, so I’m not worried about that, that’s going to happen.”
“Our defense kept us in it. We thought we did a good job on the boards. They missed 40 shots and they only got 11 offensive rebounds, so that’s really good, especially a team that big that lives on physicality and rebounding, I was really pleased tonight.”
Things didn’t come easy for Oakland out of the gate, its offense not getting compliments from Kampe for having a “pickup” feel to it. But even before its featured frontcourt option, Jalen Hayes, got rolling, some of the other bigs provided some stability.
First, sophomore Xavier Hill-Mais ended what was nearly a five-minute field-goal drought with a second-chance bucket midway through the first half. Another five minutes later, he took some scoring pressure off Martez Walker, who finished with a game-high 21 points, by getting another basket that gave Oakland its first lead in over 13 minutes.
Then, with starter Brad Brechting limited by fouls, another young forward stepped up. Freshman forward Isiah Brock, the subject of national attention before being declared eligible by the NCAA, showed some polish on his first points of the season, exciting the crowd with a nice up-and-under early in the second half, and lent some muscle inside to protect the cylinder, too.
“[His play was] the turning point in the game,” Kampe said. “I talked to the team before afterwards about being ready. He played 30 seconds in the first half. Xavier was struggling, had his head down, and Isaiah went in. It says he didn’t get any blocks, but he must have effected six shots.”
“Then his head was above the rim, then he comes down and wheels by the big guy and scores like he knew what he was doing — and I know he doesn’t [laughs] — and we made three straight 3’s after that. He juiced the team, and that’s what a guy coming off the bench has to do.”
Things seemed to be going best with the Golden Grizzlies’ offense led by Clark, and he helped pad the stat line for Hayes (18 points, seven rebounds) with tremendous entry passes into the post after the break.
A pair of 3-pointers combined with some poor finishing immediately around the hoop by Oakland kept the Broncos (1-1) lurking, and they may have had a chance initially to cut it back to single digits with just under four minutes remaining, but standout junior guard Thomas Wilder was too aggressive with a planted Hill-Mais in the paint and got called for the offensive foul rather than a chance at the old-fashioned 3-pointer.
Wilder, who led the MAC in scoring last season, scored a team-high 13 points for the Broncos, but just three of those came following the half.
Tucker Haymond and Brandon Johnson each chipped in 12 points for Western, while Seth Dugan flirted with a double-double, finishing with nine points and 15 rebounds.
Oakland continues its five-game home stand Friday night against Goshen College, while the Broncos face a big challenge Thursday in Villanova.
