Written by Griffin Beers
Staff Writer
With a nice crowd on hand, a desperate Youngstown State team and Oakland hitting the floor after over a week off it felt like March inside the Oakland University Credit Union O’rena on Thursday.
The problem? Oakland’s performance was not one worthy of winning a March type game.
“I’m not happy,” Greg Kampe said. “I am really not happy, and the guys in the locker room understand why. We couldn’t come out of a timeout tonight. Buru said it in a nice way up here, but we couldn’t make an adjustment."
The Golden Grizzlies fell 86-82 to Youngstown State. The loss served as the second loss in a row for Oakland. It is the first time Oakland has lost two games in a row to mid major opponents all season long.
“If we win tonight we are tied for first place,” Kampe said. “You would think with a chance to play for a championship we would be able to make some plays down the stretch. But you saw us missing free throws, giving up offensive rebounds.”
Oakland now sits at 10-5 in Horizon League play and 14-12 overall. With first place Wright State also losing at home, it is still a one game deficit behind the Raiders for Oakland. Others behind the Golden Grizzlies have climbed back into the picture as well, with Green Bay at 10-6 and Robert Morris at 9-7.
After taking a 19-13 lead, Oakland was outscored 31-17 in a 10 minute stretch late in the first half. That run heavily featured what was a problem all night, Youngstown State getting into the pain and finishing around the rim. Youngstown State had seven dunks in the first 28 minutes of the game, including four during that 10 minute stretch.
“We messed up the scout really badly, and a lot," Buru Naivalurua said. “We got beat backdoor probably seven times in the first half. That is just not listening and lack of discipline. There is no excuse, there is no magic reason.”
Naivalurua was a bright spot offensively, posting 15 points, seven boards and four assists on 7-of-10 shooting. Another offensive force was Michael Houge, who led Oakland with 21 points on 10-of-13 from the floor.
“There’s no excuse for tonight,” Houge said. “The key to winning for us is rebounding and stopping the three and we didn’t do those things. That’s what it was.”
Brett White II made five threes to score 17, and Brody Robinson added 16 points, eight assists and four rebounds. He did struggle from the floor, shooting 4-of-16 to go along with four turnovers.
Isaac Garrett remained out, with Greg Kampe saying he thought he would play in the game. He did not have an exact timetable for his return, but did say his ankle was fine structurally, and it is now about getting to a point where Garrett feels comfortable to give it a full go. He also added all that matters for him at this point is being 100% in March.
Khoi Thurmon took a shot in his mouth in practice and had stitches all throughout his lip, limiting him to about three minutes of action and limiting the Golden Grizzlies to mainly six scholarship players.
Now, Oakland turns its attention to the final fourth of the league schedule.
“It’s time to look in the mirror and decide who we want to be,” Naivalurua said. “You can say all the motivational things you want but it’s on us to fix it right now.”
Oakland’s first chance to fix it comes on Sunday at Robert Morris. That game is at 2pm Eastern Time.
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