HONOLULU — It was not a game that Oakland coach Greg Kampe wanted to play under any circumstances, but thanks to tournament pairings outside of his control there was no getting around it on Day 1 of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
Kampe, the longest-tenured coach at a Division I school at 41 years, and his Golden Grizzlies got a putback from Isaiah Jones in the final second to defeat Loyola Chicago and beloved former Oakland standout Drew Valentine, 72-71, at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday.
“I don’t like that at all,” Kampe told Spectrum News afterward of the matchup against Ramblers head coach Valentine, the winningest player in Oakland history and a former Kampe assistant coach. “Obviously somebody’s gotta lose the game, and we want Oakland people to win. We don’t want Oakland people to lose. I would never want to play this game. It happened in a tournament, had to play, and we were fortunate enough to win.
“They’ve got a great team, he’s a great coach, they’re going to win a lot of games and we’ll cheer for them.”
Oakland (4-7), the Rochester, Mich.,-based Horizon League school that stunned second-seeded Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament in March, was healthy for the first time this season and it showed with 15 offensive boards, including the one from Jones, who worked his way back from a broken foot. The Grizzlies advanced to Monday’s 3 p.m. DHC semifinal against Oregon State, a 74-65 winner over College of Charleston in the first game of the tournament.
Allen David Mukeba led the Grizzlies with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists before fouling out. Guard Malcolm Christie also scored 20 on 6-for-15 shooting with all his attempts coming from beyond the arc.
Loyola Chicago (9-2) of the Atlantic 10 missed three injured starters and fell behind 70-60 but scored 11 straight points over a 2:05 span to take a one-point lead on Miles Rubin’s dunk with 20 seconds left.
The Ramblers knocked it out along the baseline with 5.2 seconds left. Tuburu Naivalurua missed everything on a tough fadeaway from the baseline but the burly Jones was there to collect it and he went up strong before the Ramblers could react.
Loyola had only 0.3 seconds left. A fullcourt inbounds heave caromed off the rim but no one could tip it.
“Drew did a hell of a job with them,” Kampe said. “He coached the hell out of them, they didn’t quit. And he got them back in the game. They took the lead.”
Valentine, a Lansing, Mich., native, was the youngest Division I head coach in the country at 30 at the time of his hire by Loyola Chicago in 2021. He won 25 games that year.
“I said this the day that we hired him: you’ve got a chance to be great this business,” Kampe said. “He was one of the best leaders who ever played for me. He’s the winningest player in our history. He gets it. I hired him at 23 years old because he gets it and his relationship with Oakland. He played for us, he loved it, and I hired him knowing he has a chance to be a star in the business, and he does. He does.”
Rubin led the Ramblers with 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting and guard Sheldon Edwards Jr. added 20 points with six 3-pointers.
Loyola Chicago faces Charleston in the 12:30 p.m. consolation semifinal Monday.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.