ROCHESTER, MI — While senior guard Reggie Hamilton may be the marquee name for the No. 17-ranked Oakland University, sophomore guard Ryan Bass’ play was one of the more notable players in the 84-76 win against No. 2 ranked Buffalo in the second round of CollegeInsider.com tournament.

“That’s a very good team we just beat,” Greg Kampe, head coach of the men’s basketball team, said. “I was very pleased with our team effort today. The players made plays. Ryan Bass was big for us and was that third scorer that we needed.”

Ryan Bass shot 70 percent (7/10 FG) and finished with a career-high of 22 points.  The 5’10” guard exploded in the first half with 13 points, scoring almost a third of Oakland’s total. The second half he scored nine points and was 2-of-3 from the FG.

“He’s our Vinny Johnson,” Kampe said. “In his future here, he’ll have many more nights like this because he’s a very confident kid who you can’t guard because he’s so quick, like a waterbug with the ball.”

Bass credited the opportunities to make plays to the attention that Hamilton draws.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity that (Coach Kampe) has given me to be in a position to score like that,” Bass said. “(I also want to thank) my teammates like (Hamilton) especially, for being so hot and drawing attention so it would be easier for me to make those shots.”

Senior guard Reggie Hamilton finished with 29 points and shot 50 percent from the three-point line. Travis Bader played the entire game and scored 16 points and added a career-high eight rebounds.

After shooting as low as 31 percent from the FG early in the first half, Oakland increased their shooting percentage to 51 going into halftime. Contributing to that increased percentage was a 12-2 Oakland run to give the Grizzlies’ the lead with under five minutes left in the first half.

Bader hit a three-pointer with the seven seconds left to extend the Grizzlies’ lead to five, but Jarod Oldham banked in a contested three-pointer to cut the lead to three at halftime.

After the higher scoring first half, OU’s defense stepped up and held Buffalo scoreless in the first five minutes of play in the beginning of the second half.

After leading as much as nine halfway through the half, Buffalo shot back-t0-back three pointers to tie the game at the 3:56 mark. The Grizzlies tightened up on defense and didn’t allow Buffalo to put points on the board thereafter.

After Sikora went out early in the first half, feeling effects from an injury last week, freshman Corey Petros played almost the entire game and finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

“Both our bigs in (Drew) Valentine and (Corey Petros) did a nice job,” Kampe said. “Petros did a great job (defending Watt) who only scored two points in the second half.”

Oakland held Buffalo’s two first team All-MAC forwards Javon McCrea and MAC Player of the Year Mitchell Watt to a combined 18 points and  10 rebounds. Buffalo is also fourth in the nation in rebounds.

“Even in the first half they were shooting like 60 percent at one point and we clamped down and took the lead,” Hamilton said. “I think that carried over to second half and we kept that same energy. We capitalized on their mistakes.”

This was Buffalo’s third run and second-consecutive year in the CIT. Last year, they lost to Iona in the third round and lost to Wichita State.

Kampe believes the play from younger players like Petros and Bass in the past two games in the CIT are going to be benefit team’s chemistry going into next year.

The Grizzlies return to the O’rena on Tuesday to take on an opponent that is to-be-announced in the second round of the CIT.

“I think the sky is the limit for us,” Bass said. “All we have to do is keep rebounding and defending and staying together as one unit as we’ve been doing thought the whole tournament. I think we can win it all.”

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Kevin Romanchik is the sports editor for The Oakland Post and covers the men’s basketball team for OU. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Kevin_ro