ROCHESTER, Mich. – On opening night of the 2022-23 Men's Basketball season, Oakland University stood tall and defended home court Monday in the Athletics Center O'rena with a 92-27 win over visiting Defiance College. 

The Golden Grizzlies would win the opening tip to kick off the 2022-23 season as the home gold and black would see Osei Price fouled 17 seconds into the game. Trey Townsend would pick up where he left off from the exhibition and take the Yellow Jackets defender one-on-one to the rim for the slam.

Opening points of the 2022-23 season belong to a @treyt430 slam. pic.twitter.com/5uGeXhDdPz

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) November 7, 2022

Rocket Watts got on the board early behind a three-ball from the far corner by the visiting bench before getting the steal and cruising to the board for a quick five points from the Detroit native. Oakland would hold Defiance to zero points at the 15:11 mark, the first media timeout, with six turnovers as Watts would take a fly-by layup to put the game at 15-0 as the match counted down to the 13:00 mark.

10 Golden Grizzlies would see action with around 9:00 to go in the half with Chris Conway getting help from Blake Lampman for the jam to put things at 22-7 ahead of Price's layup off a Lorne Bowman steal at 24-7.

Lampman bagged a bucket from deep via Watts as the Golden Grizzlies' three-point shooting continues its record streak with 1,065 straight games with a three-pointer where the Haslett native would do it again a few minutes later. 

Watts would get double-digit points via back-to-back charity shots with 4:06 to go in the first half as Townsend would join him soon after. Oakland would shoot 69.6% (16-23) from the field in the first half, eclipsing 43 points in the process. 

The Yellow Jackets would find it stifling to shoot through the Golden Grizzlies' defense with a 25% (4-16) field goal percentage with a staggering 18 turnovers to OU's six as the visiting purple and white would only find a single deep ball to go in through the first 20 minutes. 

Lighting up the second half with a @_chiefkeat triple. pic.twitter.com/xC75IFMLGg

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) November 7, 2022

Will Shepherd got the ball rolling with the first possession out of the break with the sophomore heading to the charity stripe a short time later. Townsend would get his fourth dunk of the evening from Lampman's assist to go up 52-14. Lampman would go on to tie a career-high in steals with three, approaching others as the second half would continue. 

Down the stretch, a number of Golden Grizzlies would see the floor with career-highs like Bowman, Chuol Deng, Darius Sherman, and others as Oakland constricted any offense that Defiance would have as the clock continued to wind down in the O'rena with the Yellow Jackets only able to muster up 27 total points.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Keaton Hervey reached a career-high 19 points from his time at Missouri State (previously 18 versus Drake) with 23 minutes
• Hervey boasted a 100% field goal percentage going 3-3 from deep and 2-2 from the free throw line
• With the stat line above, the only other 100% field goal shooter from the last year in the NCAA was Osei Price
• Bowman had a career-high 19 minutes of play, Sherman with the same feat at 12 minutes in his first regular season game
• Watts posted 15 points and a team-high four assists, Townsend with 12 points and a team-leading six rebounds
• Lampman had 13 points after it was all said and done, 2-6 from range and a career-high three steals
• Oakland finished the day with a 57.9% (33-57) field goal percentage, 38.5% (10-26) from three
• The Golden Grizzlies trumped Defiance with 33 points off the Yellow Jackets' 30 turnovers to the visitors five off OU's 10

The squad will continue its three-game homestand with Bowling Green on Friday, November 11 at 7:00 pm in the Athletics Center O'rena.