One year ago, the Grizzlies let a double-digit lead slip away in the championship game. On Tuesday night, they made certain it didn’t happen again.

The Oakland University men’s basketball (26-8) team picked up the biggest win in program history by knocking off IUPUI 76-64 in the Summit League Tournament finals and will be among the field of 65 teams in next week’s NCAA Tournament.

“This legitimizes us,” OU head coach Greg Kampe said. “I told (my players), ‘If you win tonight, you’ll be the best team ever. The statistics say you’re the best Summit League team ever.'”

Senior forward Derick Nelson, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, saved the biggest game of his career for the one that mattered most by scoring a career-high 36 points. He overcame a myriad of injuries, including a back injury that nearly sidelined him for the game.

“Nelson has given up so much of himself to be a part of this team this year,” Kampe said. “Tonight we were so bad early that he just put the team on his shoulders.”

Any amount of hyperbole would still fail to capture the excitement, relief and satisfaction the Golden Grizzlies experienced having achieved their ultimate goal. The automatic NCAA Tournament bid is locked up and the team will be a March Madness participant for just the second time in school history.

Oakland won all three games of the Summit League Tournament this week by double-digit margins and finished conference play with a staggering 20-1 record.

“This was our goal,” senior point guard Johnathon Jones said after the game. “We go out there every day as a team, and that’s what we did today.”

Jones had previously been on the losing end of two conference championship games in his Oakland career.

OU began the game 0-for-9 from the field and looked nervous as it fell behind by eight points in the early going.

“The turning point of this game was when we went to a zone (defense),” Kampe said. “We came out and we couldn’t make a shot. They were killing us. We couldn’t guard them and they were flying by us. So we went zone and we hadn’t played zone all year. Our kids were smart enough and mature enough to figure it out.”

With the Jaguars leading 20-13 with 9:18 remaining, Nelson single-handedly went on an 11-point scoring run and gave the Grizzlies their first lead on a 3-pointer at the 6:32 mark of the first half.

By the end of the half, Nelson had scored 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

“Me and J.J. talked about it from the beginning of the year, that this was our last chance to get to the NCAA tournament,” Nelson said. “I didn’t want to be thinking I could have done something more to help us out. Tonight, I had a big game.”

Oakland’s scoring surge came with Jaguars star Robert Glenn on the bench with two early fouls. Keith Benson was forced to sit down when he collected his third personal foul, but it didn’t slow the team’s momentum.

Following a timeout call by Kampe, OU ran down the clock on the last possession of the half. Junior Larry Wright missed a pull-up jumper from the left side, but was fouled on the play and sank his two free throws.

The Grizzlies led 35-27 at the half.

Nelson’s scoring onslaught continued in the second half. He put the Grizzlies up by 10 points with 16:36 to play when Glenn lost control of the ball and Nelson was sent on his way to a fastbreak layup.

Blake Cushingberry, who was silent in the first half, hit on back-to-back 3-pointers to put Oakland ahead 56-40 with 9:55 remaining.

From here it was simply a matter of running down the clock.

When the final horn sounded, all of the dedicated Oakland students who spent the week in Sioux Falls rushed the court and celebrated alongside players and coaches.

Benson scored eight points on the night, while collecting 17 rebounds and six blocks for the second consecutive game.

Wright finished with 16 points, while Jones had seven assists and played all 40 minutes of the game.

The Grizzlies will be returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 when it stunned the conference and won as the seventh-seeded team.

“I thought that the championship in 2005 really changed the program … This is just going to continue that,” Kampe said.

Oakland will learn when and where it will play its first round NCAA game on “Selection Sunday,” March 14. Eight cities in all corners of the country host opening round games. ESPN.com consistently projected the Grizzlies as a 13 or 14 seed throughout the regular season, but Kampe said he thinks a higher seed is entirely possible.

“We have expectations to win. We have a goal board in our locker room, and on that goal board is to make the Sweet 16,” Kampe said. “So we’re not happy just to be there.”

The NCAA Tournament begins Thursday, March 18.

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Click below to view the center spread that appeared in the 3-10-2010 issue.