Oakland survives double-overtime at Western Illinois

The Oakland University men’s basketball team defeated Western Illinois 74-70 on Saturday night, winning its 11th consecutive game in Macomb, Ill.

Star senior guard Reggie Hamilton led the way for Oakland (13-13, 7-7 Summit League) , scoring 40 points, fueled by a career high nine three-pointers. Hamilton’s output was only a point shy of his career high that he set earlier this year at Valparaiso.

Hamilton was close to tying the OU record of 10 three-pointers set by sophomore guard Travis Bader earlier this season against IPFW on Jan. 26.

The Leathernecks (13-9, 7-6) were led by their own star senior in Ceola Clark III. Clark had 22 points, hitting five three-pointers, including a shot to tie the game at 50 with 38 seconds left and force the first overtime.

Hamilton responded with a clutch three of his own, hitting a shot from downtown with less than 40 seconds left to bring about the second overtime.

Oakland finally took control of the back and forth game in the second overtime with Bader and Hamilton hitting back-to-back threes. Bader finished with the long contest with 19 points.

The only other two players to score for Oakland were junior forward Drew Valentine with eight points and freshman center Corey Petros with five points. Both led the game with eight rebounds.

With the victory, Oakland snapped a two game slump. The Golden Grizzlies return home on Saturday to play IPFW at noon.

The game will be telecast live on Fox Sports Detroit.

 

OU women fall just short on the road at IUPUI

The Oakland women’s basketball team dropped its third straight game losing 64-61 at IUPUI on Monday night.

The Jaguars (11-13, 6-6 Summit League) of IUPUI held off a furious Oakland comeback in the second half, snapping OU’s eight game winning streak in the series between the two conference rivals.

Oakland (10-12, 6-7 Summit League) could not contain IUPUI’s star player, junior Kerah Nelson, though.

Nelson, an all-conference player, notched a double-double with a game high 25 points and 14 rebounds.

For the Grizzlies, star junior forward Bethany Watterworth led the Oakland attack with 23 points and seven rebounds. Watterworth scored 17 of her points in the second half, to help fuel an attempt a comeback.

After seeing Oakland take an early lead in the first half, IUPUI responded with an 11-2 run to take a 35-26 lead into halftime.

Watterworth’s second half performance allowed Oakland to rally and tie the game at 58-58 with less than two minutes to go. However, Oakland missed a jump shot for an opportunity to take the lead, and ultimately fell just short of completing the comeback.

Freshman guard Peyton Apsey made the most of her first career start, notching nine points. Oakland was without senior center Brittany Carnago for the second straight game, who sat out due to illness.

Oakland returns to the O’rena on Saturday to play IPFW at 3:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with  the men’s team.

 

Hamilton among best in two NCAA statistical categories

Reggie Hamilton has been the leader of the Oakland men’s basketball team this season. The senior runs the point of a potent Oakland attack, quarterbacking the team on offense.

Hamilton is currently second in the NCAA with 24.3 points per game, only trailing Weber State’s Damian Lillard who has 25.5 ppg.

Overall, Hamilton leads the nation in total points scored with 633. He is currently the only player in the NCAA to have topped the 600 point plateau of the season.

Hamilton has topped 40 points twice this season, notching his career high of 41 against Valparaiso on Dec. 17 and dropping 40 at Western Illinois on Feb. 4. In the highly anticipated game on ESPNU against Tennessee on Nov. 28, the star senior stepped up on the national stage, scoring 35 against one of the best teams from the SEC.

Hamilton’s play has helped Oakland to score 2048 points this season, the third most in all of NCAA Division I teams. Overall, Oakland is 17th in the nation with 78.8 points per game.

 

Men’s hockey ties the ‘Good Luck Duck’ series at two

The OU hockey team came from behind to tie the Good Luck Duck series at two games apiece with a 5-4 victory at Davenport on Saturday.

The Good Luck Duck series is an annual rivalry between the two GLCHL foes. The teams battle over a duck trophy in a best-of-five series every year.

The series is called the ‘Good Luck Duck’ because since 2007, the winner of the trophy has gone on to win nationals. When OU won the trophy in 2007, the Golden Grizzlies won the Division II National Championship. Since 2008, the Tigers from Davenport have won the Duck, and have then gone on to win Division I Nationals.

Oakland (19-13-1) went down 2-0 to the Panthers early in the first before mounting an impressive comeback. After going down 2-0 early in the first period and trailing 3-1 midway through the second, Oakland scored three unanswered goals.

Five different players scored for OU, with forward Billy Balent notching the game winner midway through the third.

Oakland continues the season when they host Adrian at the ONYX arena in Roch. on Friday at 8 p.m.

 

Golf team ranked eighth in Summit Preseason Poll

The Oakland men’s golf team finished eighth in The Summit League Preseason Poll, a ranking that is voted on by the league’s ten head coaches.

UMKC topped the poll with 74 points overall and three first place votes. IUPUI was close behind with 73 points, fueled by six first place votes. OU garnered 36 points in the poll, overall

The Golden Grizzlies will open the spring season at Cal State Fullerton’s tournament on Feb. 19-21. The 54-hole tournament will take place at Eisenhower Golf Course in Industry, Calif.

 

Contact senior reporter Timothy Pontzer via email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @timothy_pontzer