Mid-Continent Notebook - Tulsa World (2-28-2007)

[ORUTerry]

Mid-Continent Notebook

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

2/28/2007

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The big con:  Oakland (Mich.) beat Oral Roberts with possibly the oldest trick in the basketball playbook.

"I guess teams have been running it for a hundred years," said Grizzlies coach Greg Kampe.

The Grizzlies needed a miracle in Saturday's showdown of top Mid-Con teams.

ORU's Yemi Ogunoye scored a go-ahead basket, and the Grizzlies had four-tenths of a second to move the ball 90 feet and score. They didn't even try.

Instead, they coaxed ORU's Shawn King into fouling Erik Kangas under the Golden Eagles' basket. Kangas walked to the other end and sank the deciding free throws in Oakland's 85-84 overtime win.

Here's how they did it: With the 6-foot-10 King positioned opposite Oakland's Patrick McCloskey to prevent a long inbounds pass, McCloskey sprinted left along his side of the baseline, causing King to run with him.

Kangas, who started near the foul line, drifted in behind King along the baseline. McCloskey then sprinted back to the right, causing King to run that way -- and collide with Kangas.

ORU coach Scott Sutton said the play wasn't worthy of a foul because it wouldn't otherwise affect the outcome.

But according to the Oakland (Mich.) Press, Kampe told the officials what was coming, and lead official Dan Nowakowski blew the whistle.

Others questioned the wisdom of having any defender near an Oakland player.

Various teams have used the play over the years, hoping for a miracle similar to Oakland's. Officials typically look the other way. But not always.

Kampe was playing at Bowling Green in the 1970s when Central Michigan beat the Falcons with a similar tactic.

"We've had it in our playbook since I started coaching here (in 1984-85)," Kampe said. "We practice it in every shootaround. But we had never used it in a game until last Saturday night."

Big win: Oakland's upset didn't affect the seedings for the conference tournament, starting Saturday at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center. ORU had already clinched the No. 1 seed and Oakland had clinched the No. 2 seed.

But it was important for Kampe's fans. The Grizzlies had a near sellout at the O'Rena -- about 3,600 -- and the fans rushed the court at the end, according to the Oakland Press.

"I don't know what this meant in the big picture," Kampe told the Press. "But it was a good one to win."

The Grizzlies beat ORU for the first time since upsetting the Eagles as the seventh seed in the final of the 2005 Mid-Con tournament. It let them know they can beat ORU again if they have to.

On the other hand, the Eagles aren't likely to be taken by surprise this time.

Extreme team: Valparaiso coach Homer Drew has one of his youngest teams. At times, the Crusaders' inconsistencies show up from half-to-half.

Valpo went from sporadic in the first half to spectacular in the second half in wins over Southern Utah and Missouri-Kansas City to sew up third place.

Against Southern Utah, the Crusaders trailed by four at halftime but shot 61 percent in the second half and raced to a 75-48 win, avenging a 76-60 road loss to the Thunderbirds.

"I was thinking about the game at Southern Utah and how they came in here thinking they could play with us," junior guard Shawn Huff told the Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune.

"I was so mad, I wanted the second half to start right away. I didn't want to wait 15 minutes. Just go out there, get rebounds, and go at it -- stick it to them like they did at their place," Huff said.

Valpo led UMKC by one at halftime, but scored the first 19 points of the second half and rolled to a 77-61 win over the Kangaroos.

"We have already canned and put into a DVD . . . what we said at the halftime of the last couple of games," Drew told the Post-Tribune. "Whatever I'm saying before the game, we've thrown all that out."

In the hunt: Valpo won 10 of its final 14 games while its younger players developed. In their last Mid-Con season, the Crusaders look like they could interrupt the expected ORU-Oakland final in the conference tourney.

Barring upsets, the Crusaders and Grizzlies will play in the semifinals.

Getting defensive: Valpo sophomore guard Jake Diebler held UMKC's Quinton Day to five points on 1-of-12 shooting. Day is the second-leading scorer in the league at 16.9 points per game.

Sharpshooter: Indiana-Purdue's Gary Patterson was Mid-Con player of the week for scoring 46 points in two games.

He scored 27 points and tied a school record with nine 3-pointers in an 83-73 loss to ORU and scored 19 points in an 87-62 win over Centenary.

Patterson finished as the top 3-point shooter in conference play (39-of-75, .520) and ranked sixth in the league overall (54-of-130, .415).

Briefly: The all-conference team is due later this week, with ORU's Caleb Green the likely player of the year for the third straight season. . . . Green has scored 19 or more in 11 straight games. . . . Centenary's Alexander Starr has scored 20 or more in five straight games. . . . Valpo's Shawn Huff tied a school record with 11-of-11 free throws against Southern Utah. . . . Centenary leads the league with 7.9 steals per game.