Oakland edges Detroit Mercy to clinch Horizon League regular-season title

Rochester — On Senior Day at Oakland, the elder statesmen got it done, in championship style.

Blake Lampman had 20 points and shot 5-of-10 from 3-point range, and Trey Townsend had 18 points, including a huge three-point play in the final seconds, as the Golden Grizzlies held off rival Detroit Mercy, 75-70, before a large and raucous crowd at the O'Rena on Saturday night.

The win earned Oakland its first outright regular-season league championship since it joined the Horizon League in 2014.

It was Oakland's first outright league title since 2011, in the Summit League. That was the last time Oakland made the NCAA Tournament.

"Unbelievable," said Oakland head coach Greg Kampe, in his 40th season. "Proud of my guys. I'm very proud of my guys. They battled and they found a way to win it.

"It's who we are all year. We've had very few easy ones."

BOX SCORE: Oakland 75, Detroit Mercy 70

Oakland (20-11, 15-5) now turns its attention to the Horizon League tournament. The Golden Grizzlies will be the No. 1 seed, meaning they get a bye and a home game. They will play Thursday at the O'Rena, against the lowest remaining seed from the first-round games.

Detroit Mercy (1-30, 1-19) will play its Horizon League tournament opener at Milwaukee on Tuesday.

The Horizon League semifinals and championship game are set for Indianapolis on March 11-12.

The Titans, for all their misery on the court this year, led for more than 25 minutes Saturday, before the Golden Grizzlies got aggressive, particularly inside, in the second half.

Senior Rocket Watts had just four points, but made one of the biggest plays of the game — as he's done time and again in second halves this season — with a driving layup with 90 seconds left, to put Oakland ahead, 72-67. He took advantage of a double-team on Townsend.

Detroit Mercy walk-on junior guard Tobin Schwannecke then made a 3-pointer from the corner — the Titans were 9-for-19 on 3-pointers — to cut the deficit to two with 45 seconds left.

That's when Townsend, in his fourth season playing for Oakland, came up big, with a layup and drawing the foul with 17 seconds left. He let out a big roar, and the crowd came to its feet. He made the free throw to make it 75-70, and seal Oakland's19th win in 22 games against Detroit Mercy since they became Horizon League mates.

"Let's go win the whole thing," said Watts, who came to Oakland by way of Michigan State and Mississippi State.

Detroit Mercy came out strong in the first half, as the Titans have done so often this season, and limited Oakland's weapons, particularly on the inside. The Titans took a 35-31 lead to halftime, and maintained that and even stretched the lead to seven four minutes into the second half.

But slowly and surely, Oakland's physicality and depth took its toll on Detroit Mercy, which opened up the inside. And that eventually opened up the outside.

Lampman and graduate-student guard Jack Gohlke, also honored on Senior Night, took advantage with some big 3-pointers down the stretch in the second half.

Lampman's biggest 3-pointer followed a huge rebound by him on the defensive end, when he ripped the ball away from three Titans — and went down and drained a 3-pointer to make it 56-52. On the next possession, Gohlke made a 3-pointer to make it 59-52. Gohlke finished with 13 points, five assists and five rebounds. Lampman also had three assists.

Senior forward Chris Conway had eight points and five rebounds.

"So proud. I love all these guys. We all love each other," Conway said. "We came here in June and it was our goal to win this conference.

"That's just one goal we've got."

Detroit Mercy was led by senior guard Jayden Stone, who finished with 19 points, shooting 6-for-13. He led the Horizon League in scoring this season, averaging more than 20 points.

Sophomore guard Marcus Tankersley had 15 points and four assists, and graduate-student swingman Emmanuel Kuac had 12 points, all on 3-pointers. He came into the game barely making better than 20% of his shots from beyond the arc.

Stone led Detroit Mercy with seven rebounds, and Townsend led Oakland with six.

A big turning point for the Titans was when graduate-student forward Edoardo Del Cadia fouled out with 4 minutes, 42 seconds left. He had 14 points, and was a huge inside presence. In the first half, Oakland had just 10 points. In the second half, the Golden Grizzlies had 22.

In the end, Oakland's presence was too much. It was a closer game than many suspected it would be, given the teams' polar-opposite trajectories.

But it's a rivalry game, and weird things can happen in rivalry games. Not Saturday. Reality prevailed. Eventually.

And Oakland got to cut down some nets during a postgame ceremony — during which Townsend was greeted with chants from the crowd of, "One More Year!"

"Players make plays, and we had a bunch of guys make them," Kampe said. "We did what a championship team does. We found a way to win."

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984