The Oakland University men’s basketball team suffered their first home loss of the season on Saturday night, falling 97-78 to South Dakota.  The 19-point margin marked the worst conference loss at home for the Golden Grizzlies (8-12, 3-3 Summit) since losing by 37 to Oral Roberts in 2006.

The defeat was the first Oakland loss ever at the hands of the Coyotes (7-12, 3-4 Summit), a league newcomer last season. OU blew an early 14 point lead, ending a 10 game winning streak on the O’rena floor.

“I am kind of stunned by this, didn’t see that coming,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “Have to give (South Dakota) a ton of credit, a team that is new to our league, playing at Oakland. They could’ve easily folded and they didn’t. They threw a couple punches at us, and we went down and never got up.”

Kampe was very pleased with the way the first 10 minutes of the game went, but after that, he called the game a complete surprise. Oakland jumped out to a 30-16 lead halfway through the first period, utilizing an early 10-0 run and then a subsequent 11-3 scamper.

During that span, OU relied heavily on two of its leaders, senior forward Drew Valentine and junior guard Travis Bader. The two combined for 20 straight Oakland points during the first 10 minutes of the half.

“During that time we were playing really good defense, and came out with great energy because we were excited to play at home,” Valentine said. “When we made some substitutions, the energy level dropped off, and we were never able to regain that emotion and passion.”

That energy level dropped off significantly, as Oakland allowed South Dakota to answer with a 16-4 run to tie the game at 34 all. The Grizzlies only managed four field goals over the last 9:30 of regulation, while South Dakota closed the half with a 13-4 advantage to take a 48-40 lead into the locker room.

The first half collapse mirrored the happenings of Thursday night, when Oakland lost a 13 point lead at the end of the first stanza against Kansas City.

“To be honest, I really don’t know what happened,” Valentine said. “As a leader of this team, obviously I’m not leading well enough. We just need to figure this out, because it has been the story of our team all year. If we want to achieve our mission at the end, we need to turn things around.”

After allowing SD to build up a 22 point lead, Oakland began a furious comeback, going on a 17-4 run to cut the margin to single digits.

“It was (Assistant) Coach (Saddi) Washington’s idea to take out all our bigs and just put all littles in,” Kampe said. “We had five minutes left and down by 22, we just thought let’s give it all we got and see what happens.”

The run electrified a near-capacity O’rena crowd, and the Grizzlies looked like it may be able to garner its first victory after trailing at halftime. However, a key call happened with just under four minutes to go that sealed Oakland’s fate.

Junior guard Duke Mondy appeared to drive for a layup to further cut South Dakota’s lead to only seven, but an official waved off the basket, citing that Mondy had travelled. Kampe, and the entire home crowd, voiced their displeasure. During a media timeout, as the Oakland head coach tried to talk to the official, he was given a technical foul.

“It was a call that I disagreed with,” Kampe said. “It is a referee that I have a long history with, and I’m shocked that he called a technical because I didn’t say anything that warranted it. I think you would have to ask him why he called it, especially at that critical time of the game.”

South Dakota sunk both of the free throws awarded from the technical, halting Oakland’s attempt at a comeback, and sparking an 16-6 Coyote run to finish the game.

“Did that (technical) cost us the game?” Kampe asked, “Sure, I guess it did. But the reason we lost the game is they scored 81 points in the last 29 minutes on our floor.”

The loss dropped Oakland to 0-9 when trailing after the half. Bader led the Oakland cause with 19 points. Valentine chipped in a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards. Mondy added 17.

Bader started the game hot, hitting five straight threes. After that he missed 10 straight attempts from beyond the arc, managing only two points in the second half.

The Coyotes featured six players in double figures, led by freshman Casey Kasperbauer who scored a game-high 23. Kampe described Kasperbauer as “their Travis Bader” as he went 5-7 from downtown.

The Coyotes shot 57.6% from the floor as a team, including an impressive 53% from three point range. South Dakota also went 19-20 from the charity stripe and their bench outscored Oakland’s 31-6.

Oakland continues this four-game homestand next Thursday, hosting IUPUI at 7pm. Then on Jan. 26 at 5pm, the Grizzlies welcome in Western Illinois as part of the homecoming festivities.

Contact Timothy Pontzer via email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @timothy_pontzer