OAKLAND TAKES HORIZON CROWN
Blake Lampman only made it into a black and gold jersey on a recommendation from Oakland great Travis Bader five years ago. He wasn’t even supposed to make the team’s summer offseason trip to Greece prior to his freshman year, according to Golden Grizzlies head coach Greg Kampe.
“A week later, I called Blake into our office (and said), ‘Would you like to go to Greece with us?’ Kampe said. “And that son of a (gun) has been one of the best players to play at Oakland since he got here.”
Debate it from a big-picture standpoint, but Lampman was undoubtedly critical Saturday evening, scoring a game-high 20 points to help Oakland beat rival Detroit Mercy 75-70 on Senior Night and clinch the program’s first Horizon League regular-season title since 2017
and the first outright title since joining the conference from the Summit League.
Lampman, who Kampe compared to some of the program’s all-time great leaders like Drew Valentine and Sherron Dorsey-Walker, hit a big 3-pointer as part of an 11-0 run midway through the second half of a contest that the Golden Grizzlies trailed almost all of up to that point.
The four seniors Oakland honored combined for 55 points, and every single one was needed on a night where the Titans, who came in bottom-10 in Division I in 3-point percentage (27.2%), but started 4 of 6 from deep and finished 9 of 19 (47.4%).
“I thought Mike Davis had one of the best gameplans that a team has had against us this year,” Kampe said. “What we did to them the first time, he knew what we’d do with (Jayden) Stone and (Marcus) Tankersley, and he had a great gameplan that they executed well, but in the end, we had too many good players. And our top players, (Jack) Gohlke made a 3, Lampman made a big 3, Rocket Watts made a nice drive to the basket, and Trey (Townsend) was the man down the stretch.”
Townsend, the Oxford High graduate who leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists, made just one of his first six shots from the field, but eventually settled in to impart his will on the undersized Titans, and provide a decisive basket in the last minute.
The Golden Grizzlies went up by five on a step-back 3-pointer by Gohlke with 2:18 remaining, but after committing a turnover
on the break, Detroit Mercy got it back to within two on a triple by Tobin Schwannecke with 45 seconds remaining.
On the other end, Watts fed Townsend (18 points, six rebounds), who took a dropstep and muscled in a bucket while getting fouled by Emmanuel Kuac with 17 seconds left, drawing chants from the crowd of “One more year” with the play that essentially secured the outcome.
Oakland improved to 9-3 at home dating back to 2013-14 against the Titans, who fell to 1-30 on the year. When asked what he said to Davis following the game, Kampe said, “I told him how much I appreciated the job he’s done with his group. Most teams that have gone through what they have would quit, and there’s no quit with this team. It has to be heartbreaking for him after his career to go through a season like that,