Dec. 18, 2009

Box Score | Notes

SEATTLE, Wash. - Junior Larry Wright scored a career-high 21 points and finished 7-for-7 from the free throw line, while junior Keith Benson (16 points, 16 rebounds) and sophomore Drew Maynard (10 points, 10 rebounds) added double-doubles to lead Oakland University (6-5) to a tough 77-68 win over Seattle University (6-6) on Thursday night inside KeyArena.

"We just won a tough road game and shot 38 percent," said OU coach Greg Kampe who reached 425 wins in his career tonight. "That means we really defended. I am so pleased with our game defensively."

The Golden Grizzlies got 23 points from their bench and outrebounded the Redhawks 57-39. OU also held Seattle U to 34 percent from the field (25-74).

SU was led by Cervante Burrell and Chris Gweth with 14 points. Alex Jones tallied 13 points and Aaron Broussard posted 10 points for the Redhawks.

The first 12 minutes witnessed 16 turnovers between to the two schools with a full court press being applied by SeattleU, but the Golden Grizzlies held a slight three-point advantage, 19-16. The Redhawks closed the gap to just two points late in the half with four straight points on fast breaks but Oakland took a four-point lead into intermission, 37-33.

SeattleU took advantage of a couple more turnovers by the Golden Grizzlies early in the second half as OU trailed for the first time since early in the game, 41-39, with 15:35 on the clock. OU grabbed the lead once again, but the Redhawks used an 8-0 run to gain their largest lead of the game, 56-52, with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Oakland made a charge as Wright converted on an old-fashion three-point play and in doing so fouled out SeattleU's Charles Garcia at the 3:52 minute mark as the Grizzlies regained the lead, 67-65. With the score tied and under two minutes left, senior Johnathon Jones fed Benson in the low post who laid it in to give the Golden Grizzlies a two-point lead, 69-67, with 1:15 left in the contest.

Benson once again came up big for OU with a huge block out of nowhere and Wright was fouled after he grabbed rebound. Wright again converted on both free throws as the Golden Grizzlies held off the Redhawks.

The Golden Grizzlies will continue its west coast swing with a Saturday night game at the University of Oregon (5-4) at McArthur Court. Game time is set for 10:30 p.m. ET and will air on OU's flagship station WDFN-AM (1130).

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