Duck Season

Golden Grizzlies knock off ranked Oregon in historic win

By Samantha Franz
Sports Editor

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.--The cards were laid out perfectly for the University of Oregon Ducks. Two of their starters, Malik Hairston and Tajuan Porter were making a homecoming to Detroit (both are graduates of Detroit Renaissance), they were ranked 23rd in the nation, according to the AP Poll and were in a perfect position to rebound after an overtime loss to Nebraska on Dec. 15.


What they weren’t counting on was a resilient Oakland University team to take an 11-point lead in the first half and battle back from a 20-0 Oregon run in the second half, thus giving Oakland a 68-62 victory, OU’s first-ever over a top-25 team.

“This is the most important game in my 24 years here,” said head coach Greg Kampe. "People might say “You beat Michigan and you won an NCAA tournament game [in 2005],” but this is the biggest.”


The Oakland (6-6) and Oregon (8-3) match up was the nightcap of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Spartan Clash Saturday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills and the home team put on a performance that was a great early Christmas present for Golden Grizzlies fans.


The Ducks drew first blood with a quick lay-up by starting forward Joevan Catron, but was quickly countered by two back-to-back 3-pointers by OU junior Erik Kangas, and the Grizzlies took a 6-2 lead.


The score would continue to see-saw between the two teams until Oregon took their final lead of the half at 12:56 with a 12-9 advantage. After that, it was all Oakland. Junior Derick Nelson led the charge with 11 first-half points and five boards and helped his team leave the Ducks stunned as the ranked team found themselves in a 37-26 hole going into halftime.


But Oregon was ranked for a reason and they demonstrated that in the second half. In less than four minutes going into the half, three Oregon 3-pointers and two trips to the free throw line suddenly cut Oakland’s lead from 13 all the way down to a tie. This deficit became part of a 20-0 Oregon scoring run that ended with Oakland down by seven points with 14:33 to go in the contest.


But Oakland didn’t surrender and they began to battle back. Senior sixth man Brandon Cassie got the ball rolling with a three-point play, thanks to being fouled on a fade away jumper with 8:16 remaining, bringing OU within one, 52-51. Clutch shots from Kangas and aggressive drives from Nelson helped OU gain a 60-54 advantage with about four minutes to go.


The Ducks would tie the game one more time with two 3-pointers by Porter and Bryce Taylor, making the score 60-60 with three minutes left. But trips to the charity stripe would keep OU on top and when the buzzer rang out, the Golden Grizzlies celebrated their 68-62 victory, their first over a top-25 team.

“This means a lot to me and (the) players, but it means more to the program,” Nelson said about being part of the historic victory. “This is about all the players who helped bring Oakland to Division I and the players that will be here in the future.” Nelson finished the night with 22 points.

The Golden Grizzlies will have a few days off for the holidays before jetting off to Ohio to take on the University of Toledo Dec. 29. at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on 88.3 WXOU.


Noise Factor: Spartan Clash proved to be a sell-out, with 22,076 fans in attendance for the first game of Michigan State University against Texas. A few thousand fans stuck around for game two, though judging by the noise level, the arena could have easily been half full.