There was snow, there were closed campus roads, there was a room temperature of 60 degrees in the gym.
But, most importantly, there was conference play basketball.
Oakland hosted Purdue Fort Wayne in each team’s Horizon League opener, and the Golden Grizzlies came away with a 101-92 victory.
“I told our guys before the game, we need to be one point ahead when this thing is over,” Greg Kampe said. “And we did that.”
“It was a lot of three point shots, a lot of high level basketball, and a lot of defense that needs to be cleaned up.”
The final score certainly indicated those sentiments, and each team scored 54 points in the second half alone.
Oakland had the lead for most of the night, but was in and out of comfortable range the entire 40 minutes. If Oakland threatened to completely pull away, Purdue Fort Wayne would claw right back. Kampe says that is to be expected.
“We’re never out of it. And our opponent is never out of it. When you play at a pace like we do you are going to see runs.”
What seemed like the final blow was when Oakland opened up an 82-64 advantage with under 10 minutes to go, after a Brody Robinson 8-0 run. Robinson was once again impressive, going for 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
“If you’re prepared, you trust that any shot is going to go in,” Robinson said postgame. “My teammates did a great job putting me in great spots too.”
Robinson added it’s always going to be someone having a big night.
“This is a very skilled basketball team. Anyone on any given night can go for 20.”
Purdue Fort Wayne trimmed that 18 point lead down to six late, but Oakland was able to close with enough free throws and a Buru Naivalurua corner three to hold off the late charge.
Michael Houge made his home debut for Oakland, and found his way to 12 points and eight rebounds even after a slow start that saw the Dons packing the paint.
“I’m starting to get a lot more comfortable,” Houge said .”You can practice all you want to but the game setting is just different. I’m starting to figure out where guys like the ball, what sets are going to be called when, stuff like that. I think as I get healthier I will only get better.”
Oakland’s other two bigs, Isaac Garrett and Buru Naivalurua, started slow as well. Garrett, Naivalurua and Houge were Oakland’s top three scorers on the season coming in, but at halftime none of the three were in the top four scorers on the team.
Garrett and Naivalurua got loose a bit in the second half, however, each making corner threes to stop Purdue Fort Wayne runs as well. Garrett went for 15 points and five rebounds, and Naivalurua went for 12 points and five boards.
Nassim Mashhour started the game making three straight threes, and ended with 13 points and seven rebounds of his own. Another Golden Grizzly with three threes was Brett White II, who scored his nine points in only 12 minutes. Ziare Wells added nine points as well, including a few highlights: a dunk of his own and an alley oop pass that was converted by Warren Marshall IV.
Oakland’s depth was on full display all night. Different Golden Grizzlies took control of the game at different times, and at halftime, Oakland had scored 47 points without one single player reaching double digits.
Most of the league will play a second conference game this week, but Oakland will dip back into non-conference play. This means that Oakland will sit comfortably at 1-0 for the next few weeks.
Next up on the schedule is another home game on Saturday, against a quality MAC opponent in Toledo. That game is slated to tip off at 3pm Eastern Time and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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