The Oakland Post

Golden victory

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Down by a score of 40-27 at halftime in the opening round game of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament against Kent State Tuesday, Oakland University men’s basketball head coach Greg Kampe had a speech prepared.

“It started with, ‘bleep-bleepity-bleep-bleep,’” joked center Dan Waterstradt.
After that halftime address, the Golden Grizzlies responded with a 22-7 run to open the second half en route to an 80-74 victory over the Golden Flashes.

“[Kent State] has been the standard of the [Mid-American Conference] for a decade,” said Kampe. “Obviously, the first half wasn’t very good. I don’t think either team was good early. But this was a very significant win.”

It was a win that would not have been possible without the revitalized play of Erik Kangas. After shooting a lackluster 2-6 from the field in the first half and allowing two turnovers, the senior forward responded with a strong second half.

He led the team with 23 points, including 18 in the second half and seven rebounds while providing electricity to the Athletics Center O’Rena crowd with every bucket as OU fought to gain the lead.

“I told Kampe at halftime, that I had Kangas and to keep running plays for him,” said Waterstradt. “I said, ‘I’m going to lay out whoever’s guarding him to get him open looks.’ And he came through like the shooter that he is.”

“The shots were feeling good but they weren’t going down in the first half,” said Kangas on the gunner’s mentality. “It’s not going to stop me, I’ve still got confidence in myself.”

Waterstradt led the team with 11 rebounds and added 11 points in 26 minutes off the bench. Junior guard Johnathon Jones led OU with 12 assists and nine points, while sophomore forward Keith Benson chipped in 16 points and six boards to help provide an inside presence that KSU could not match in the second half.

“[Oakland] is a very well-rounded team that can score from the inside,” Kampe said on the strengths of the Grizzlies. “We like to run our offense through Benson, out to Kangas, with Jones handling the ball all the time. We didn’t handle their traps in the first half, but we got that straightened out in the second half and got the ball to the basket.”

Apart from an improved execution, Kampe pointed to the strong effort that the Grizzlies displayed in the second-half as a driving force behind the double-digit deficit rally.

“That was the halftime discussion,” Kampe joked. “Drew Maynard was a key. He started the second half, made a three, had a heck of a block, got the crowd involved and he was a key for us.”

As the men’s team awaits its second-round opponent, the OU women’s basketball team (26-6) will begin its postseason play on Thursday after being selected to play in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.  Their opening-round game will also take place at the O’Rena against Dayton (20-13). Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday.