CLEVELAND, Ohio – Down by seven in the first half, Oakland University Men's Basketball battled back to take a 70-65 win on the road in the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University in Horizon League action Thursday night.

Jamal Cain's blocked right off the bat forced a quick turnover by Cleveland State (10-4, 6-1 HL) as the Vikings responded with a three pointer just over a minute into the game as the tension rose inside the Wolstein Center. 

The Golden Grizzlies (12-4, 6-0 HL) got on the board behind a Trey Townsend floater via the helping hand of Jalen Moore before Micah Parrish drained a three to bring things to 6-5 with just under 17:30 remaining in the first half. 

WIth the score 16-9 at the first media timeout in favor of the home Vikings, who started a perfect 4-4 from the three point line, Jalen Moore already posted three assists to his credit while the Golden Grizzlies shot just 40% (4-10) from the field.

After a missed Cain layup, Parrish's put back dunk gave the Golden Grizzlies more to bite out of the Cleveland State lead with 9:02 left at 21-14 as the Vikings continued to hold. 
 

𝓢𝓪𝓿𝓪𝓰𝓮 put back dunk by @ImmanuelMicah. 😮#DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/HMie5KJvTZ

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) January 14, 2022

Down the stretch of the first half, Oakland was shooting 38.9% (7-18) from the field, 25% (2-8) from three with six turnovers to the Vikings' five. 

Two free throws from Moore brought the game to 23-20 with 6:15 to go as CSU responded with three points of their own in the paint and at the line with 5:24 remaining before a Moore lob pass down low to Cain for an emphatic dunk brought the lead to 30-24 as both teams entered a timeout with 3:33 to go in the first. 

Blake Lampman's three lit a spark for Oakland as Price was able to slam with authority with the all gold jerseys crawling back within one as a timeout by Cleveland State with 32.8 seconds remaining saw the game at 32-31. 

A CSU foul with 0.8 seconds left on the clock put Cain at the line who sank both of his attempts to give Oakland the lead at 33-32 going into the locker room. Townsend led OU at the break with eight points and four rebounds while Moore had both six points and assists at the end of the first 20. As a team, Oakland shot 40.6% (13-32) from the field and a perfect 4-4 (100%, obviously) from the charity stripe.

A give and go from Parrish to Townsend continued to keep Oakland and Cleveland State deadlocked as the second half got under way. Townsend's tough layup through three grey jerseys kept OU within one at 38-37 at 15:54 as Parrish's free throw knotted things up at 38-38.

Moore's fast break layup after the Vikings turnover then gave OU the lead at 15:06 in 40-38 for the team's largest lead of the evening. Back-to-back triples by Parrish and Lampman continued to keep the Golden Grizzlies afloat with 11:49 to go at 48-46.
 

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞?

Lampman for three. #DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/aTINaVmjnL

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) January 14, 2022

Lampman sank an attempt from deep once more at 9:25 the predated a pair of Moore free throws that tied the game up at 54 out of the under eight media timeout. Townsend drove right into the heart of the Vikings' defense to retake the lead at 5:04 followed up by another Lampman three pointer to give OU its largest lead at 61-56.

With the game down the wire and OU's lead never solidified by the Vikings' offense, Moore's trips to the free throw line iced the game at 70-65 as the final buzzer sounded off at Wolstein Center. 

Townsend finished the day with 20 points, six rebounds, and three assists as Moore took away 14 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Cain was the team's leading rebounder with seven to round out some individual stats. 

The team was bested by Cleveland State in almost every category finishing with a 40.3% (25-62) field goal percentage to the Vikings' 43.8% (28-64). Notably, CSU started the game a perfect four-for-four from beyond the arc and finished just 1-19 from three the rest of the battle. OU did capitalize off of CSU's 13 turnovers to score 16 points off those mistakes. 

Oakland will stay on the road for its next Horizon League contest against Purdue University-Fort Wayne at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 15 at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.


 

Here's the skinny. 👇#DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/6ns1tXdUO0

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) January 14, 2022