EAST LANSING, Mich. – Oakland University Men's Basketball rounded out the non-conference slate of the 2022-23 season with a loss to Michigan State 67-54 at the Breslin Center on Wednesday.

A 6-0 scoring run by the home green and white (8-4, 1-1 B1G) would kick things off on the frigid Wednesday evening as Rocket Watts broke the slight scoring drought for OU (2-11, 0-2 #HLMBB) at the 18:20 mark. Keaton Hervey was fouled and brought to the line for a pair of free throws, hitting each and cutting MSU's lead to two.

The combination of Hervey and Trey Townsend continued to eat into the Spartans' scoring runs as the Golden Grizzlies finally took over the lead with 12:26 to go behind Townsend's jumper and Blake Lampman's triple from range 15-13.

Another deep ball from Lampman gave Oakland an early edge at 18-15, growing to as much as three points with 6:13 to go with Chris Conway's in-the-paint jumper with the score 24-21 where the Spartans would return.

The first half would end in low numbers for both teams. MSU held Oakland for those six minutes previously mentioned to no points while putting up five of their own to go into the locker rooms at the Breslin Center 29-24 after the first 20 minutes. 

Oakland's scoring woes would continue out of the break with Townsend's bucket being the only one in a span of 11 minutes dating back to Conway's first-half score. With the game decided by 23 points with just over 15 minutes remaining in regulation, Hervey and Townsend turned on the afterburners and put up double-digit point totals through the rest of the frame.

Only Conway, Watts, and Lampman put up single buckets down the stretch bookended by Osei Price's three-pointer as the final basket of the game for the Golden Grizzlies.

Hervey finished with 16 points while Townsend was a basket behind at 14. The grad transfer also registered eight rebounds in the loss as Conway took the second-best mark on the team with six coming off the bench.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Hervey had a team-high 16 points, Townsend with 14
• Both teams registered 20 points in the paint throughout the 40 minutes of play
• Oakland forced 11 first half turnovers from Michigan State
• Lampman extends his three-point shooting streak to 10 games
• Conway had 24 minutes off the bench

#HLMBB play will return to the O'rena on Thursday, December 29 at 7:00 pm as the Panthers from Milwaukee come to town.