ROCHESTER, Mich. – In a packed Athletics Center O'rena on Saturday afternoon, Oakland University Men's Basketball bested visiting Eastern Michigan 92-90 in overtime thanks to a last-second play that pushed the Golden Grizzlies to 2-3 on the year.

It took a whole 25 seconds for Rocket Watts to get things started in an arena that held a crowd of 4,059 as the Eagles (1-3) would answer thirty seconds or so later with Watts getting the next four points by his hot shooting as the Golden Grizzlies found themselves up 7-2 early. Will Shepherd would also waste no time getting in the scorebook to begin his career night with a three of his own.
 

Let's start this one out with a 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗴

That'll be 1,069-straight games with a triple for OU. pic.twitter.com/ze00IbKkIv

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) November 19, 2022

Watts and Shepherd combined for triples and free throws early as Oakland suddenly found itself out to a 14-3 lead before forward Trey Townsend would make his appearance for the first time Saturday with a jumper in the paint with 15:56 to go in the half. 

The Golden Grizzlies went up by as much as 19 points with 3:41 remaining in the half with players like Chris Conway and Jalen Moore having an impact on the stat sheet before the Eagles did their best to use their talons and dig back into the game behind free throw shooting. 

With 1:30 or so to go in the first stanza, EMU would rattle off five straight on the scoreboard to head into the locker room down by nine at 45-36. 

Oakland was 15-29 (51.72%) from the field in the first 20 minutes of play to the Eagles' 35.48% (11-31) while pumping out a 50% (7-14) mark from three-point land. 

The second half would start with the Eagles eating into the Oakland lead once again with five unanswered points before Shepherd would continue to build on his career-high three-point shooting by drilling a deep bucket at the 18:35 mark. Both teams would spark a frenzy of scoring in the early set of the frame with Hervey and Watts all getting in on the action heading into the under-12 media timeout. 

With 6:44 remaining in regulation, Eastern Michigan knotted things up at 70 apiece before dropping a deep shot from the close-side corner to go up by three for the first time in the game as the contest would have the lead changed four times throughout the rest of regulation.

Things got tense with 5:47 to go in regulation as each basket by the Golden Grizzlies was answered with lightning quickness by the Eagles. Blake Lampman drained a triple to knot things up at 73 all before EMU would quiet the rocking crowd once again with a three of their own at 76-73 before the combination of Townsend and Hervey in the paint to steal it right back at 77-76.

Hervey's two free throws had OU up by two at 78-77 with 2:44 to go as Eastern Michigan pushed a 6-0 run at 82-78 as a mistake by the Eagles' defense had Osei Price go to the free throw line with 19 seconds remaining as the sophomore hit both two go down by two at 82-80. Emoni Bates of EMU turned the ball over off the Eagles' inbound pass by Hervey, who would get tangled up in a diving mess and grant OU possession with 16 seconds to go.

Townsend took matters into his own hands as the Oakland offense slow down, allowing him to hit the tying shot with three seconds remaining to force the first overtime contest of the young season.

With 9.8 seconds to go in the overtime period, Hervey dished the ball to his left into the hands of Townsend who took his defender-one-on-one heading into the paint as the Oxford native took a right-handed floater up off the glass and sank it through the net to regain the lead at 92-90 as the crowd would be brought to its feet. 

EMU pushed the pace up the floor on the far baseline, passing it a few times at the top of the arc in what felt like an eternity, making a scary pass underneath the rim as the black jersey couldn't handle it as the LED lights around the O'rena's baskets would light as the clock hit 0.0. Lampman and Hervey stomped their feet in celebration as the Golden Grizzlies gutted out their second victory of 2022-23. 

THE MOMENT. GOLDEN GRIZZLIES WIN. pic.twitter.com/jZkCJJh20u

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) November 19, 2022

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• This is the first overtime game OU has played in this season following a single overtime game played in the 2021-22 season
• Townsend and Hervey tied for a team-high 17 points while the latter of the two teammates tallied nine boards 
• Moore played in 44 of the possible 45 minutes
• Shepherd hit a career-high four three-point attempts for 12 points, going a team-best 4-4 from deep
• Hervey hit 75% (6-8) from the field, Townsend just behind at 53.3% (8-15)
• The regular season series with the Eagles moves to 10-7 in favor of Eastern Michigan, a  5-3 record in Rochester
• Lampman was the team's leading scorer off the bench with 11 points 
• Moore leads the team once again in assists with eight; Herveyis  in second with four
• Oakland owned the paint with 32 points to the Eagles' 28

The Golden Grizzlies will head to Nassau in the Bahamas for the Nassau Championship hosted by Baha Mar Hoops starting the three-day tournament off with Long Beach State on Friday, November 25 at 8:00 pm.