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It's rivalry week in college basketball and the Horizon League showcased it's newest and quite possibly fiercest rivalry Friday night in Rochester, MI. The Oakland Golden Grizzlies took down the Detroit Titans 83-82 in an overtime game for the ages.
For the 25th and 26th time this season the Horizon League had 30 point scorers as Juwan Howard Jr. had 33 points and Travis Bader notched 30. It was Howard who had the last shot of the game, a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that failed to land. This came just seconds after Duke Mondy hit his only shot of the game to put the Grizzlies ahead.
Bader expanded on his 3-point shot record by connecting on eight of his 13 attempts. His biggest three of the night may have been with 24 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 77. The Grizzlies shot an astounding 57.1 percent from behind the arc.
Helping Bader, and assisting on quite a few of his threes, was freshman point guard Kahlil Felder, who logged a triple double with 15 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. He was one turnover away from a quadruple double he probably did not want to achieve. Dante Williams came off the bench for Oakland and put in 10 points and grabbed seven offensive rebounds, leading the Grizzlies to a 41-37 rebounding advantage.
The difference in the game may have been Detroit's free throw shooting as they shot only 65 percent from the charity stripe, down from a season average of 71 percent. Senior forward Evan Bruinsma's rough shooting evening, 3-for-13 from the field for only eight points, certainly didn't help matters. He did however lead the team in rebounding with nine. Senior center Ugochukwu Njoku had eight points, five steals and two blocks.
If the Horizon standings stay as is, Detroit and Oakland will meet in the first round of the conference tournament. Detroit will travel to Chicago where they will take on the winless UIC Flames on Tuesday. Oakland will play host to Wright State on Sunday.
