Golden Grizzlies cousins team up to send UAA men to another Shootout loss

Oakland University coach Greg Kampe heard all about UAA's Suki Wiggs before bringing his team to the GCI Great Alaska Shootout.

"We had heard he scored 99 points in this tournament (last year), and he was a special player," Kampe said.

Forewarned, the Golden Grizzlies came forearmed for Friday's consolation-round game against Wiggs and the Seawolves.

They assigned one of their best defensive players to stick to Wiggs like duct tape and often put other defenders in his way too, a tactic that helped Oakland take a 71-65 win over the UAA men's basketball team at the Alaska Airlines Center.

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Sherron Dorsey-Walker harassed Wiggs into a 2-of-19 shooting effort and his cousin, Martez Walker, took care of business on the offensive end to lead the Golden Grizzlies. Walker scored a career-high 25 points and drilled two huge 3-pointers to counter UAA's two big second-half charges.

UAA will try to avoid a winless Shootout when it meets Drake in Saturday's noon game. Oakland will play UC Davis at 2 p.m.

Oakland (5-1) never trailed and led by as many as 15 points in the second half, but the Golden Grizzlies never managed to completely pull away from the Seawolves, who twice during the final six minutes made it a one-possession game.

"I thought we battled a very good team all the way to the end," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said. "It would've been easy once or twice in the first half to fold up the tent."

Down by 11 with 12 minutes left, UAA reeled off six points in 50 seconds to cut Oakland's lead to 54-49. After an Oakland timeout, the Golden Grizzlies found Walker open at the top of the key for a 3-pointer that ended the Seawolves' run.

Wiggs missed shots on UAA's next two possessions and both times Oakland answered with points to again grab a double-digit lead, 61-49, with about eight minutes left.

The Seawolves came back with 10 straight points to come within two points, 61-59, with five minutes to go. That stretch that included 3-pointers from Diante Mitchell and Spencer Svejar, two big plays from 6-foot-10 center Connor Devine — who twice gained possession for UAA, once with a blocked shot and once by drawing an offensive foul — and the first basket of the game by Wiggs.

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Oakland came back with five points, including a well-defended 3-pointer by Walker, to gain some breathing room, 66-59, with four minutes left.

UAA made it a one-possession game one more time, 66-63, and had a chance to get closer after Devine grabbed a defensive rebound, but Wiggs missed a short jumper and Gus Simmers fouled while battling for the rebound, sending Dorsey-Walker to the foul line for two points and a 68-63 Oakland lead.

The Seawolves missed their next four shots and went the final three minutes without a field goal.

Wiggs, who finished with eight points, was smothered by the Golden Grizzlies — usually by Dorsey-Walker — every time he touched the ball. He missed all six of his 3-point attempts.

"We put size on him, and we wanted to make him go left," Kampe said. "We have some shot blockers and we wanted to block his shot and try to get in his head. …We wanted to knock him down and make him get up off the ground."

And that's pretty much how it played out. Wiggs never once found an easy path to the bucket and seldom got good looks from the perimeter. After scoring 99 points in three Shootout games last year, he has 23 in two games this year.

"We know he's gonna bounce back," Mitchell said.

After dealing with injuries last season, Mitchell and Svejcar are emerging as additional scoring threats for the Seawolves. If Wiggs or one of the others has an off-night, "we know the other two might have to step up," Mitchell said.

Which is exactly what Mitchell and Svejcar did Friday. Mitchell poured in 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and Svejcar scored 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting, including 3 of 4 from long range.

Mitchell added three assists, four rebounds, a block and a steal, and Svejcar added six rebounds. Devine chipped in 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks, and Corey Hammell pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

UAA shot 35 percent (21 of 60) and was 6 of 20 from 3-point range. Oakland hit 44.6 percent of its shots (25 of 56).

[Free-throw shooting a strength for UAA men's basketball team]

Walker, a 6-6 junior, got his 25 points on 10 of 19 shooting, hitting four of eight from behind the arc. Oakland's Jalen Hayes and Nick Daniels combined for 25 points, and 5-9 freshman Neely Brailen came up big with seven assists, four steals, eight points and no turnovers in 24 minutes at point guard.

Walker and Dorsey-Walker, a 6-4 senior who had a 25-pound advantage on Wiggs, went to high school together at Detroit's Pershing High School, where their teammates included Kay Felder, an NBA rookie who is the backup point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The three played together last season three at Oakland, a Horizon League team located in Rochester, Michigan.