'We've got so many dudes': Oakland role players come up huge in Horizon quarters
Tony Paul
Rochester — For as much as the Horizon League tournament has been a hall of horrors for Oakland men's basketball over the years, the Golden Grizzlies turned it into a fun house Thursday night.
Behind standout performances from two Metro Detroit natives — Pontiac's DQ Cole in the first half and Detroit's Rocket Watts in the second half — Oakland took control early and held off a very dangerous Purdue Fort Wayne team, 75-65, in the Horizon League tournament quarterfinals before a raucous crowd of 3,721 at the O'Rena.
Oakland's win sends the regular-season champion to the semifinal round of the Horizon League tournament, set for Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Monday. Oakland (21-11) will play Cleveland State (20-13) at 7 p.m. Monday, after Cleveland State upset Youngstown State, 82-70. Oakland and Cleveland State split in the regular season.
The Horizon League championship game is Tuesday night.
"We did everything we had to do," said Oakland head coach Greg Kampe, looking for his first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011. "You just have to be one point ahead. You survive and advance, as everybody says.
"There's a long way to go."
Oakland, playing a team that beat the Golden Grizzlies, 98-77, at the O'Rena back in December, seized control of this game early in each half, and held on for dear life at the end.
The Golden Grizzlies stormed to a 23-point lead, 57-34, with 12 minutes, 19 seconds left, on a powerful, crowd-pleasing dunk by Horizon League player of the year Trey Townsend, the senior forward, coming off a steal by junior forward Tuburu Naivalurua, one of 10 steals Oakland had in a game it won with its defensive might.
Watts, the Oakland senior guard by way of Michigan State and Mississippi State, played a huge role in building that lead, scoring 12 of his points in the second half.
But Purdue Fort Wayne (21-12), a team that averaged more than 80 points this season and can shoot the 3 effectively from five spots on the floor, didn't go quietly, and chipped away at Oakland's lead, getting it down to 15, 64-49, with 4:25 left, before Oakland senior guard Jack Gohlke made a 3. But Purdue Fort Wayne went on an 11-0 run on the strength of three 3-pointers. And Oakland's lead was down all the way to six on a 3-pointer by redshirt senior guard Quinton Morton-Robertson, making it 69-63 with 57 seconds left.
Purdue Fort Wayne went to a full-court press in desperation mode, and it worked to at least give it some life, and it worked, for a while.
But this isn't an Oakland team from years' past, when the Horizon League tournament routinely broke the program's heart. The Golden Grizzlies made their six free throws in the final minute, four by senior swingman Blake Lampman and two by Rocket Watts, to kick off the celebration. Oakland was 15-for-16 on free throws for the game.
"We really embrace that the game's never over," said Townsend, who had six points but also 11 rebounds and four assists. "Our mantra all year has been 40 minutes."
Cole, a junior guard, finished with 14 points, all coming in the opening half, when he put the Golden Grizzlies on his back, including making two 3's. This has proven a favorable matchup for him this season, scoring 21 in the first meeting, and 14 in the second.
On Thursday, he took advantage of the double-teams of Townsend, who, as he usually does, found a way to find his teammates when his shot wasn't there, as it wasn't for much of the night. Purdue Fort Wayne, like so many other opponents, picked its poison, and ended up drinking too much.
"It's a great thing just to be able to play off Trey," Cole said. "He found us, he found me a couple times. We were able to take advantage of those opportunities.
"He's been seeing the same double-teams for 30 games."
Cole didn't play much in the second half because of early foul trouble, and he fouled out in just 18 minutes of play — but those were some effective minutes.
Senior forward Chris Conway had 11 points and four blocks, as Oakland shut down any inside presence for Purdue Fort Wayne. Oakland won the battle in the paint, 34-20.
Lampman had nine points, as did Gohlke. They each made two 3's.
Defense was the bigger story of the game, as Oakland forced 15 turnovers, and outscored Purdue Fort Wayne, 10-0, in points off turnovers in the first half, after which the Golden Grizzlies led, 38-27.
Purdue Fort Wayne, which made 17 3's at the O'Rena in December, still made 12 Thursday, but on 32 attempts. Morto-Robertson, a 41% 3-point shooter, was 2-for-8. Fifth-year senior guard Anthony Robets was 1-fgor-6.
The Mastadons shot 37% in the first half, and 38% for the game. Purdue Fort Wayne had scored just five points nearly halfway through the first half. Junior guard Rashed Bello had 16 points with five assists, and sophomore guard Jalen Jackson had 15. Roberts scored 13, and Morton-Robertson 10.
Townsend, Watts and Naivalurua each had two steals — one of Watts' came late in the game, when h went diving on the floor for a loose ball that turned into an over-and-back violation for Purdue Fort Wayne. It sealed the win, though Watts was limping after the play, and was limping well after the game. He said he'd be fine for Monday.
Oakland's defense did all that without sophomore swingman Isaiah Jones, who rolled his ankle at practice Monday. Junior guard Osei Price, starting in Jones' place, helped set the tone with a big dunk in the opening minutes, and had three rebounds, two assists and a steal in limited but important minutes for an impressively deep Oakland team.
"The reason we have done what we've done is because we've got so many dudes," Kampe said.
"We've got so many dudes, man."
Horizon League tournament
THURSDAY
∎(At) No. 1 Oakland 75, No. 8 Purdue Fort Wayne 65
∎No. 7 Cleveland State 82, (at) No. 2 Youngstown State 70
∎No. 5 Northern Kentucky 99, (at) No. 4 Wright State 97 (OT)
∎No. 6 Milwaukee 95, (at) No. 3 Green Bay 84
MONDAY
Semifinals, at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis
∎Oakland (21-11) vs. Cleveland State (20-13), 7, ESPNU
∎Northern Kentucky (18-14) vs. Milwaukee (19-14), 9:30, ESPNU
TUESDAY
Final, at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis
∎Semifinal winners, 7, ESPN or ESPN2
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