As swim team shaves in stands, Oakland stays hot, moves atop Horizon League

Rochester — There was a time, not that long ago, that Oakland men's basketball thought they would have to play out the rest of the season without Blake Lampman.

Lampman, an injury magnet his entire career at Oakland, was one bad MRI result from needing surgery. But the test came back clean — or, at least, clean enough — and the graduate-student guard has made the most of it, catching fire for a Golden Grizzlies team that is again tied for first in the Horizon League.

Lampman scored a career-high 26 on Thursday in a win over Robert Morris, then scored 26 again in Saturday's 83-71 win over Cleveland State on Saturday at the O'Rena. It was Oakland's third straight win and ninth in the last 10 games, as it improved to 10-3 in the Horizon League, tied for first with Green Bay.

Junior forward Trey Townsend added 18 points and nine rebounds, much of that production, particularly inside, coming after a frustrating first half in which Cleveland State didn't give him an inch.

The win avenges Oakland's 75-67 loss at Cleveland State in December, a game Oakland trailed by more than 20, before making a run at it in the second half.

"I don't know if 'revenge' is the word. That's a great team," said Lampman, who also has multiple injuries on Oakland's current report, and has resolved to be healthy enough four hours a week, for two games. "We were down 26 at halftime and cut it to four, and I missed a shot in the left wing. If I make that shot, we probably win there.

"We had to make sure when they came here, they didn't do that."

"As long as we didn't get to a 22-point deficit (Saturday), we thought we'd be all right."

Oakland (15-9), which features one of the deepest teams head coach Greg Kampe has had in his 40 years on the job, led by 19 in the second half, before Cleveland State (14-10, 7-6) cut it to single digits.

But every time the Vikings made a push to get back in the game, the Golden Grizzlies had an answer, whether it was one of their stars (Lampman also had five rebounds or three assists) or role players (junior guard DQ Cole had six rebounds and five assists).

Graduate-student guard Jack Gohlke had nine points, but committed a pivotal lane violation in the second half. Kampe drew up the next play for him, and he drained a 3-pointer.

"I wanted to see," Kampe said. "March is around the corner and something bad's gonna happen. Can you overcome a mistake that you made? ... I can't tell you what a good sign that is.

"Every run they made, we handled it, and that's a sign of a darn good basketball team."

Oakland this season has benefited from its depth, but also its defense, which has kept the Golden Grizzlies in games when the offense hasn't been great.

Oakland can beat you a number of ways, as evidenced by the last two games. On Thursday against Robert Morris, the Golden Grizzlies lit it up from 3-point territory; Lampman made eight, Gohlke four, and the team had 18. On Saturday, against a longer Cleveland State team, Oakland made just six 3-pointers, but the total offensive production barely fell off even a lick.

Cleveland State focused hard on the 3-pointers, particularly Lampman and Gohlke, which opened up things inside for Townsend and junior forward Chris Conway, who had eight points.

The lanes weren't there in the first half for Towsend, but they were in the second, and he took full advantage.

"I've just been working on trying not to force bad shots as of late," said Townsend, who also had two blocks. "I wasn't getting doubled a crazy amount. ... I'm just getting better at reading if I'm truly getting doubled or not."

Against a Cleveland State team that rebounds well, particularly on the offensive end, Oakland won the board battle, 42-34, and the offensive-rebounding war, 17-16.

Oakland also took care of the ball, with just two turnovers in the first half, after which Oakland held a 44-32 lead, and just seven for the game.

The Golden Grizzlies also were 23-for-23 from the free-throw line, with Lampman going 6-for-6.

On the other end, the Vikings missed five free throws, including four in the second half, when behind their basket, the Oakland men's swim and dive team was right there, shirtless and in speedos, giving a teammate a haircut every time Cleveland State shot a free throw. The O'Rena crowd erupted with every Cleveland State miss from the line.

The swim team's support was payback for a recent meet at which the basketball team showed up, also shirtless and with body paint, which, Kampe pointed out, isn't cheap.

"Everyone kind of loves each other here. It's a cool thing to see," Lampman said. "To see them come out, they were shaving their heads in the stands, what are we doing boys? That was awesome."

Senior forward Tristan Enaruna had 23 points, including several highlight-reel dunks, for Cleveland State, while junior guard Tevin Smith had 14. Sophomore forward Dylan Arnett had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Senior guard Drew Lowder, a Jackson, Michigan, native, had just three points (he averages nearly 13), but did have six assists.

Oakland now heads on the road for its next three games, starting Thursday at Northern Kentucky.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984