Oakland University defeated the Saint Xavier 87-72 in their final preseason performance Friday night.

Kahlil Felder led the game with 21 points (17 first-half points), but it was freshman Femi Olujobi that had the big night for Oakland.

“With about a minute to go in the game I said to Coach Washington or Sorenson, I guess we’re not going to be able to redshirt him,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “That kid’s got a chance to be a special player.”

Olujobi finished the night with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting and seven rebounds in only 23 minutes of action.

It was Olujobi’s second career game with the Golden Grizzlies.

“Playing within the offense really helped me score, and I just really took a couple of opportunities that came my way,” Olujobi said.

In the first exhibition Olujobi was featured predominantly at the center position, in this match he played forward and was able to face the basket and go 1-of-2 from 3-point range.

The Golden Grizzlies outrebounded the Cougars 41-30, Kampe wanted his role players opposite center Corey Petros to show their presence on the glass.

It was forward Tommie McCune that answered the call, scoring 14 points and gathering 12 rebounds, recording the game’s only double-double.  He also recorded two blocks and a steal in the game.

“That’s all from Coach Kampe,” McCune said. He wanted the players to attack the rim for rebounds every time they could. “When you wear down your opponent, after a while things are going to start falling your way.”

McCune said that after practicing so much it just turns into habit. He also said that his team was shown an article that said Felder and Petros’ supporting cast was weak, and it’s given the team a chance to play with a chip on their shoulder.

“It’s a motivation to prove that we are good,” McCune said. “We’re a good team, and we’re going to play hard.”

Oakland was picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League this year.  

“We got to survive until we get Nick Daniels back from the injury, and Kay (Felder) is going to have to play a lot of minutes until he comes back,” Kampe said. 

The team expects Daniels to return sometime in December, and hopefully have him full-go by Horizon league play.

The team heads to No. 15 ranked Iowa State next Friday to begin the regular season.