Blog: Oakland Vs Detroit Becoming A Great Local Rivalry
By: mike Sullivan
@ikesullivan
Oakland University joined the Horizon League last year, and a rivalry with the University of Detroit was created.
It's touted as "The Metro Series," which properly describes the matchup.
It's the city vs the suburbs and it has quickly become a very exciting local sports rivalry. The Golden Grizzlies won both games last year, but Detroit was victorious earlier this season at Calihan Hall by 20 points on January 10th.
However, after that game, Oakland won seven straight games, before losing their most recent two. Meanwhile, Detroit has gone 3-6 during that timeframe.
With the two schools being so close to one another in distance, just 26 miles apart, both fan bases travel pretty well. This game is meaningful and full of bragging rights. It's one that's certainly circled on the schedule, and now there's even a trophy that goes to the winner.
In front of a packed house at the O'Rena today, Oakland controlled the first half and took a 46-33 lead into the break.
Once the second half started, Detroit came storming out of the gate and slowly but surely chopped that lead away. The Titans eventually took a 65-64 lead with 7 minutes left to play.
From that point on, both teams traded leads the rest of the way before Oakland ultimately won an 83-78 finish behind point guard Kay Felder's 29 point, 8 assist performance.
Felder talked about his play in crunch time, "I'm the leader of this team and I felt like I had to take over. I did whatever it took to get the W."
He went on to talk about how good he was feeling out there, "I felt like I was shooting into the ocean. Everything I shot was going in."
Paris Bass lead Detroit's offensive attack, finishing with 28 points.
Detroit head coach Ray McCallum discussed the importance of this game, "This was a big ball game, two teams that really needed a win. They (Oakland) made the plays down the stretch. I'm happy for our guys to experience having a rival. That's why you come to college, to have these types of games that are important."
Since Oakland won today's game, they were crowned as the first-ever winner of the inaugural Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Cup.
After the game, Oakland head coach Greg Kampe was very happy, to say the least:
"I thought today we played really well in a rivalry game like that. You could color me 50 shades of happy right now."
He believes that this rivalry is at the same level as Michigan vs Michigan State based on the hype and the crowds in both arenas. Kampe said, "This is the most important game we play."
This Oakland vs Detroit rivalry is just getting started and will continue to be an exciting, hyped-up game each time these teams play each other twice every season.
