Waterstradt ties career high in 77-69 OU loss

By Samantha Franz

Sports Editor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Saturday’s conference matchup between Oakland University and IPFW had “win” written all over it for the Golden Grizzlies. With a student bus of several hundred Oakland University students traveling into enemy territory and senior Brandon Cassise back in the lineup after serving a suspension, a pumped up Golden Grizzlies team was ready to get back on the winning track after a hard loss to rival Oral Roberts last weekend. 

But the Mastodons (7-11 overall, 4-3 conferece) lit up the floor with 61 percent shooting in the second half to down the Golden Grizzlies 77-69 after an OU-dominated first half.

IPFW gave Oakland (9-9, 4-3) a scare in the opening five minutes of the first half with an 8-0 run, but the Golden Grizzlies found their groove and responded with a 15-2 run of their own that rocketed them to a 28-19 lead with just over six minutes to go.

IPFW finished the half by scoring the half’s final seven points, leading Oakland into the locker room with a nine-point cushion, 37-28.

The second half was an entirely different ball game for the Golden Grizzlies. IPFW, a team that was not supposed to win slowly drove the Golden Grizzlies into the ground as the minutes ticked away.

Oakland saw its shooting grow ice-cold as they shot 12-for-37 in the second half and the Mastodons set the nets on fire with 61 percent shooting, making it the second consecutive game OU has allowed a team to shoot more than 60 percent in the second half. 

“Nobody stepped up to make shots,” head coach Greg Kampe said. “We had a lot of wide-open looks and nobody made shots.” 

After nine lead changes in the game’s final 10 minutes, the Golden Grizzlies came within one point twice in the last two minutes, but Mastodon sixth man Chris Perkins wouldn’t allow the game to slip away, as he nailed seven free throws in the final 1:23 of the game to seal the upset for the Summit League newcomer.  

IPFW’s Jaraun Burrows tallied a new career high 23 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had three steals. Former Golden Grizzly David Carson came just short of a double-double against his old teammates, scoring 15 points and pulling down nine rebounds for the Mastodons.

One of the lighter notes for Oakland was the second half performance of junior Dan Waterstradt, who matched his career high in points with 12, all coming in the second half, on 5-for-9 shooting.

“I think he had a very good second half,” head coach Greg Kampe said of the 6-foot-10 center. “He played with great energy.”

Sophomore Johnathon Jones led all Oakland scorers with 17 points and junior Erik Kangas shot 3-for-6 from behind the three-point arc to contribute 13 points on the game. Cassise scored 11 points and tallied six assists in his first game back from suspension. 

The Golden Grizzlies will continue their road swing with matchups against second place IUPUI (13-5, 1-3) Thursday and Western Illinois (8-10, 3-4) Saturday.