Jan. 2, 2009
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
ROCHESTER, Mich. - If last year was any indication to what would happen tonight, then nobody should be surprised by the end result. Trailing by two points with just 23 seconds left, senior Erik Kangas came off a screen and buried a 3-pointer with five seconds left to give Oakland University (9-7, 3-1) a 77-76 Summit League win over North Dakota State (8-5, 3-1) in men's basketball action on Friday night in the Athletics Center O'Rena.
"What a shot," said OU coach Greg Kampe. "Finally at the end, during the last five minutes, I thought, well, we might as well give him that five minutes and see what he can do. His being on the floor helps us. The reality of it is we won against the preseason favorite in the league, a very good team."
NDSU's senior guard Ben Woodside went the length of the floor and put up a layup that rattled in and out with just one second left and sophomore Keith Benson grabbed the rebound for the Grizzlies to secure the win.
OU defeated the Bison last season 77-74 in the O'Rena on another 3-pointer by Kangas, that time with just one second left in the game. The Grizzlies defeated NDSU by two, 73-71, in Fargo, N.D. on a tip-in with two seconds left by former OU player Tim Williams.
Benson led the way for the Golden Grizzlies with 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Freshman Drew Maynard scored 15 points off the bench with three assists, while junior Johnathon Jones went over 1,000 points for his career with 13, dishing out nine assists in the game to push his all-time number to 1,010. Sophomore Will Hudson went 5-for-5 from the floor, scoring 11 points and grabbing six rebounds for the Grizzlies.
NDSU's Brett Winkelman scored a season-high 33 points and six rebounds, despite having a stomach virus and missing the team shootaround earlier in the day. Woodside, the preseason player of the year and leading scorer, was the only other Bison in double figures with 14 points, 10 points off his season average and tallying eight from the free throw line, finishing 3-of-14 from the floor.
"(Brett) Winkelman and (Ben) Woodside are great, great, players," said Kampe. "Woodside scored 60 points in a game this year. They played great. I think Johnathon Jones forced things a little bit too much tonight, but he was awfully good down the stretch."
OU's bench outscored NDSU's reserves 27-11 and the Grizzlies shot 50 percent (7-14) from long range to improve to 6-0 on the season when they shoot 40 percent or better.
"Our freshmen were unbelievable," said Kampe. "Drew Maynard stepped up in the first half. He had 20 or so out in Vegas too, and I think he knows next year he's going to get to run all those plays. So he was excited and he knocked down some shots, and (Blake Cushingberry) knocked down some shots, and (Matt) Samuels did a great job for us. Will Hudson was really good. Our bench really won that game for us. I'm really proud of our team."
The game witnessed 13 lead changes. The Golden Grizzlies led by one at the break, but the Bison outscored Oakland 13-2 to take a nine-point lead with 16:10 remaining in the game. OU countered with an 8-0 run and regained the lead with just over 11 minutes left 54-52.
Five lead changes later had the Bison's Woodside on the free throw line with 23 seconds left on a loose ball foul on Benson. Woodside converted to give NDSU a two-point lead.
Oakland wasted little time with its decision to go for the win. Kangas came off a screen and buried his only trey of the game after missing most of it due to injury. He came off the court with over three minutes left in the first half and only played 11 minutes in the second half.
"I got kicked in the calf, and it was tightening up during the game and I was having a hard time getting it loose," said Kangas.
"(Kangas) couldn't even move," continued Kampe. "He had a cramp, but I kept going down to him during the game, and I wanted to play him, but I'm not going to get him out there where he could hurt himself."
The Golden Grizzlies have won six straight in the O'Rena dating back to last year and are 4-0 this year. OU will take on Centenary next Thursday, Jan. 8, in Shreveport, La. Game time is set for 9 p.m. ET.
-30-
