Near misses hampering Oakland - Tulsa World (2-24-2007)

[ORUTerry]

Near misses hampering Oakland

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

2/24/2007

Coach says the Golden Grizzlies were 2.7 seconds away from a 12-1 record.

Oakland (Mich.) basketball coach Greg Kampe is left to talk about what might have been.

His Golden Grizzlies might have been playing for the Mid-Continent Conference title Saturday when Oral Roberts visits for the final regular-season game. Instead, the Grizzlies are 9-4 and in second place. With three league losses, they enabled ORU to clinch a third straight regular-season title last weekend.

"The way I look at it, we're 2.7 seconds from being 12-1," Kampe said.

Except for a 73-63 loss at ORU last month, the Grizzlies might have won every conference game.

They fell at Western Illinois on Sammy Hunter's layup and foul shot with two seconds left. They lost in overtime at Missouri-Kansas City after Jonathon Jones missed an open 1-footer with seven-tenths of a second left in regulation.

At Southern Utah last Saturday, the Grizzlies led with three seconds left in overtime, but lost on a 30-foot prayer shot by Southern's Justin Allen as time expired. Allen was reaching around a defender and falling out of bounds as he flung the ball toward the basket.

"I've replayed it 100 times and I still don't understand how the physics of the thing allowed it to go in," Kampe said.

ORU coach Scott Sutton sympathized, even though the Grizzlies stunned the Golden Eagles on a last-second shot in the final of the Mid-Con tournament two years ago.

"I've seen some incredible shots, and that one (at Southern Utah) ranks right up there at the top," Sutton said. "They've lost some tough games."

Both teams want to use Saturday's game as a springboard into the conference tournament, March 3-6 at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center. Oakland locked up the No. 2 seed with Thursday's 70-63 win over Centenary. As the top seeds, it's likely the Eagles and Grizzlies will meet in the final for the second time in three years.

Oakland seniors Vova Severovas, Shawn Hopes and Rick Billings will play their last home game. The 6-foot-6 Severovas leads the league's most balanced lineup, averaging 14 points per game. All five starters average 9.7 points or more. Erik Kangas ranks among the nation's top 3-point shooters with 91 treys.

ORU won at Indiana-Purdue 83-73 Thursday and is 5-1 in Mid-Con road games.

"It's another opportunity to get a quality road win," Sutton said. "I think it would give our guys a lot of momentum for next week."

Mike Brown 581-8390

mike.brown@tulsaworld.com

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