Greg Kampe keeps his promise, Oakland basketball wins share of Horizon

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Mark Snyder 2/26/2017

(Photo: Rachel Woolf, Special to DFP)

When was deciding to jump to the around 2011- 12, then-school president Gary Russi demanded results.

"The university's investing a lot of money to make this move, we need you to win, can you win?" coach Greg Kampe said today, recalling the meeting in Russi's office. "I said, 'yeah we can win.' I told him in that meeting it took Valpo five years to win their (first Horizon) championship. We'll beat that."

Russi is gone but validation arrived today. Oakland won at Milwaukee, 86-75, to share the Horizon League regular-season title with Valparaiso in the Golden Grizzlies' fourth season in the conference.

After the Crusaders lost earlier today at Northern Kentucky, all Oakland had to do was win beat the Panthers to match Valpo's 14-4 conference record. And with a sterling road mark this season, that set up perfectly for the Golden Grizzlies (24-7) to grab their ninth straight win.

It's the program's first conference title since 2011, when Oakland was in the and it secured the No. 1 seed in the Horizon League tournament at Joe Louis Arena beginning Friday.

Getting the No. 1 seed also hands Oakland a security blanket. Should the Golden Grizzlies get upset in the conference tournament and fall short of the Horizon's automatic NCAA tournament berth, they will be guaranteed a spot in the NIT.

Oakland, which topped 80 points for the sixth straight game, will face the No. 8 or 9 seed (Youngstown State or Cleveland State) at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Win that and there will be off until Monday's semifinal. Detroit Mercy is the No. 7 seed.

Kampe was still trying to compose himself as he spoke to the Free Press on the phone after the game. There were many reasons from winning it after losing star to the NBA draft after last season, adding two new assistants this year and having to rally after losing four of five games in the middle of the conference season.

But these tears were because of his lone senior, Sherron Dorsey-Walker, who played the best game of his career, scoring 28 points by hitting 8-for-11 three-pointers.

"He sensed the moment and, like I told him, he deserved it," Kampe said. "The work he's put in, how he's carried himself, who he is. Good things happen to good people if you believe in yourself."

He was supplemented by the team's usual leading scorer, Martez Walker, who had 21.

Just like the season, it wasn't a smooth game, as the teams were tied at halftime. An 11-0 Oakland run in the middle of the second half, keyed by forward Xavier Hill-Mais in the post, broke the game open. Much of the second-half burst came from the defensive end as Milwaukee's first-half 52% shooting fell off after the break, shooting 37%.

"There wasn't anybody outside our locker room when we lost to Detroit and Cleveland State that thought we had a 1/2 chance to win," said Kampe, who had his team buy into 7:30 a.m. shooting days after that to rediscover the stroke. "They earned it, they didn't expect it to come. when you're willing to do the work and a good person like Sherron is, good things happen. I believe it."

Oakland has now won four regular-season conference titles since becoming Division I eligible in 1999-2000, from the Jason Rozycki stunner in 2000 to the -dominated years in 2010 and 2011. But this one, with a team written out of the race after the midseason stumbles, may be even more satisfying.

"To hang in there to win it, and to beat Valpo, to win both games against them," Kampe said, trailing off. "Every championship I've been involved with is a cherished one. But this one's got a little more to it right now because of where we came from."

Contact Mark Snyder: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder. Free Press news services contributed.

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