MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Oakland University Men's Basketball dropped its first Horizon League game of the year to fall to 13-5, 7-1 in the league after a 88-78 loss to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at UWM Arena on Thursday night.

After four quick points by Milwaukee (7-12, 5-5 HL), Osei Price's triple put OU on the board as Micah Parrish's layup from Jalen Moore followed as the first media timeout hit with the game 6-5 in favor of the Panthers early on. 

Trey Townsend nearly single-handedly stole the lead right out from the Panthers as the Oxford native knotted things up with a free throw before following it up with a layup plus a Moore assist as the nation's leader had four early on at the second media timeout with OU up 12-10 at 11:58.

Get that 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. @treyt430 #DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/o6DsqDLFol

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) January 21, 2022

A series of Milwaukee scores saw the Panthers tie things up with just under 11 minutes to go in the first half at 14-14 as the Golden Grizzlies scoring stalled briefly. Both teams continued to exchange leads by no more than a point or two until both teams went to the bench at the under eight media timeout as UWM was off to a scoring streak for a 20-16 edge. Early on, Oakland was shooting 26% (5-19) from the field while going 1-9 (11%) from range. 

At the under four timeout, it was Townsend who had established himself in double figures with 10 points while Cain put a stat in each column with four points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 1 block, and a steal as Milwaukee extended out to an eight-point lead at 29-21. 

As Oakland went into halftime down 37-23, the Golden Grizzlies were shooting 21% (6-28) from the field, 71% (10-14) from the line, and 8% (1-12) from three. Townsend tallied 10 points in the first half with four rebounds to lead the team as Moore also had four rebounds and four assists. 

Price's three-pointer started the half as Oakland made the switch to a full court press out of the break. Parrish's three free throws followed by points in the paint from Moore sparked a 7-0 run for Oakland as Cain finished a key dunk off his own rebound as OU was now down 40-36. 

As the Panthers called timeout at 4:17, Oakland was looking at a 72-58 deficit as the team was shooting under 30% in both field goal and three-point shots except for the free throw line where the Golden Grizzlies were 24-29 (82.8%) to Milwaukee's single free throw attempt. 

As the final buzzer sounded, Oakland stared at the 88-78 score as the team dropped its first loss in Horizon League play.

Cain finished with 17 points while Townsend rounded out the day with 16 just behind. Moore nearly had double-digit assists, finishing with nine to go with his 14 points on the day. As a team, Oakland had a 31.3% (21-67) field goal percentage, a 25% (7-28) three-point shooting percentage, and all the while going 80.6% (29-36) from the free throw line.

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will be next on the schedule for a 1:00 p.m. tip on Saturday, January 22 inside the Kress Center. 

To recap:#DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/Cq2p0o0Efs

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) January 21, 2022