Nelson leads the way for men’s basketball on trip
By Dan Tallant
The Golden Grizzlies men’s
basketball team (13-11 overall, 8-5 conference) took a road trip last weekend
down south to face conference rivals Oral Roberts (17-5, 12-0) and Centenary
(9-15, 3-9). Oakland split the two contests, beating up on Centenary, but
falling hard to Oral Roberts.
Game one of the road trip
took place Thursday against the first-place ORU Golden Eagles. Oakland shot a
miserable 30 percent from the field, managing to score only 53 points compared
to 60 for Oral Roberts.
Although cold shooting was
problematic for both teams, Oakland suffered the most, failing to convert on
its first 13 shots of the second half. The cold streak kept the Grizzlies from
scoring until just over seven minutes into the second half.
The game was close all the
way through until Oral Roberts’ Robert Jarvis sank six straight free throws to
close out Oakland.
OU Junior Derick Nelson
led the Grizzlies with 13 points. Junior Erik Kangas and sophomore Jonathon
Jones added 12 points each in the loss.
With the win, Oral Roberts
extended its home winning streak to 24 straight conference games. The Golden
Eagles also continued their dominance of the Summit League, extending their
conference record to 11-0.
Leaving empty-handed from
Tulsa, the Grizzlies looked to turn the road trip around with a win at
Centenary.
Oakland led by as many as
40 points in the contest and easily strutted off with a 97-61 victory against
Centenary College at the Golden Dome.
OU dominated the whole
contest on Saturday, with five Golden Grizzlies in double figures.
Nelson led the team again,
dropping a game-high 22 points. Assistance also came from Kangas who sank
4-of-8 from beyond-the-arc on his way to a 14-point performance. Other
double-digit scorers included freshmen Tim Williams, Will Hudson and Peter Bunn
who scored 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Jones dished out 11
assists in the contest.
The 36-point victory by
the Grizzlies was the largest defeat that the Golden Dome has witnessed in its
existence.
“Any time you win by more
than 10 points in a league game, you’re happy,” head coach Greg Kampe said in a
press release. “We caught them at the right time and shots went down for us
early.”
Notes:
Golden Grizzly senior Brandon Cassise
did not make the trip due to personal reasons. Cassise is currently fourth on
the team in scoring, averaging 9.4 points per game. Cassise has missed four
games so far this season. There was no reason given for Cassise’s absence.
Assistant Sports Editor Rob Tate
contributed to this report.Â