Oakland drops home game to Northern Kentucky

0
152
Photo courtesy of TZR Sports

Heading onto the weekend, Oakland sat one game back of Youngstown State and Robert Morris for a coveted top four seed in the league tournament. Sitting here on Monday morning, following losses by both Youngstown State and Robert Morris to teams in the lower half of the standings, the most likely outcome would be Oakland would take care of business on their home floor against a struggling Northern Kentucky team and close that gap.

Unfortunately for the Golden Grizzlies, that Northern Kentucky team had other ideas.

Oakland fell 84-75 on Saturday, and is now 7-6 in conference play, one game behind a two way tie for fourth place.

The Norse used a 17-0 run to take a double digit lead early in the game, but Oakland was able to take a one point halftime lead. For two offenses that have had low point totals all year, a halftime score of 40-39 was a surprise.

The second half was much of the same, as each team continued scoring at a high level. However, one mini drought by the Golden Grizzlies created the separation the Norse needed, and they came away with a win they needed, after losing six straight games.

“That is a storied program that has never been in this spot before,” Greg Kampe said postgame. He said they came out today needing to show some life, and they did.

“They had five players in double digits, and the two we game planned to stop weren’t one of them,” Kampe said.

It was a tough night for Oakland defensively, because of the display from the Northern Kentucky supporting cast.

On offense, Oakland made 11-25 from the three point line, which was a good sight for Golden Grizzlies fans. DQ Cole made five threes, good for 15 points. He also added five assists and five rebounds. It was his first real breakout from deep at home this season. The Golden Grizzlies will need some more displays from Cole down the stretch, if they want to make a late charge up the league standings.

Buru Naivalurua and Allen Mukeba got their usual point totals, but Naivalurua was held to 6-11 from the floor, and Mukeba was 5-11. Naivalurua led the team with 18 points and Mukeba posted 14 points and eight boards. One great sign that continues to trend upward is the performance from the free throw line. Naivalurua went 6-7 to raise his season average to 68.7%, and Mukeba made all four of his shots to go over 61% on the season. As a team, the Golden Grizzlies were 18-20 from the line, and are up to just shy of 70% on the season.

Malcolm Christie and Nassim Mashhour each made two threes and scored eight points, and Jayson Woodrich and Isaiah Jones each scored six points to round out the scoring.

While Oakland missed a chance to close the gap on the top of the league, the help they received means they didn’t lose any ground. Now, there is a chance on Thursday to move up a spot, as Oakland hosts Youngstown State.

Kay Felder will be getting his banner raised on Thursday, and a big crowd is expected. Tip off inside the O’rena is slated for 7pm Eastern Time, with ESPN+ carrying the television broadcast.

Leave a Reply