Box Score Cincinnati, Ohio (Nov. 19, 2004) ???C For a second straight year Oakland???s men???s basketball team opened its season at Xavier and the Golden Grizzlies and Musketeers battled for battled for 35 minutes before a cold shooting spell at the end of the game did in OU. Oakland struggled with its three-point shooting all night, hitting only two long-range shots to Xavier???s seven as the Musketeers took a 69-58 win. Rawle Marshall (Detroit, Mich.) led Oakland with 20 points in the season opener for both squads. In a contest that saw both teams virtually even on the final stat sheet, the difference in the game was in the final minutes. With nine minutes left in the contest Marshall scored on a lay-up that brought OU to within two at 52-50. From there on out Oakland managed only nine more points the rest of the way, scoring only two points in the eight minutes after Marshall???s lay-up. In a first half that saw eight ties and three lead changes, Dave Ritzema (Clarkston, Mich.) got the season started for Oakland by hitting jump shot to score the first points of the season and give OU the early lead. Xavier answered, getting a jumper from Brian Thornton and then a three-point shot from Dedrick Finn to take a 5-2 lead. Marshall kept OU in the game with 12 first half points, but the Musketeers held a slim lead until DeMarcus Ishmeal (Detroit, Mich.) hit a trey that tied the game at 14-all midway through the half. Brandon Cassise (Walled Lake, Mich.) then hit the first basket of his OU career, a three-pointer, that gave the Golden Grizzlies a 19-16 advantage. Oakland could not put any more distance between itself and Xavier, however, and the Musketeers were able to come back and retake the lead on a shot by Stanely Burrell with five minutes left in the half. Xavier pushed its lead out to 35-30 on a hoop from Josh Duncan with less than a minute to go, but a pair of free throws by Cortney Scott (Lansing, Mich.) with 1.2 ticks left on the clock made it a three-point lead at the half. Xavier stated the second half by scoring the first four points, putting Oakland in a 39-32 hole. The Musketeers maintained the lead until baskets by Marshall, Cassise and Scott pulled the Golden Grizzlies back to within 45-42 with 13:24 left. Five straight points from Justin Doellman put the Musketeers back up by eight, however. Oakland came right back and outscored Xavier 8-2, getting the lead back down to two on Marshall???s lay-in with 9:03 showing on the clock. That was when the Oakland offense hit the skids, making only two more field goals the rest of the night, both by Scott. The Golden Grizzlies had a scoreless stretch of nearly five minutes and by the time Patrick McCloskey (Marshall, Mich.) broke the streak with a pair of free throws with 1:51 left, Xavier had pushed its lead out to 13 points. Marshall finished with the first 20-point game of the season for Oakland, adding seven rebounds and leading all players with four steals. Scott wound up with 16 pints and eight rebounds and shared the team lead with Pierre Dukes (Grand Blanc, Mich.) with three assists. Brian Thornton led Xavier with his double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Both teams were fairly even on the stat sheet except for the three-point shooting, where OU struggled all night and missed all 11 attempts in the second half. For the game the Golden Grizzlies were 2-of-19 while Xavier hit on 7-of-21 attempts. Overall the Musketeers out shot OU 47 percent to 41.