ROCHESTER, Mich. – In front of of 3,809 patrons at the Athletics Center O'rena,
Jamal Cain posted 32 points in the Metro Series win as the Oakland University Men's Basketball team busted the shield of the University of Detroit Mercy 75-59 on Sunday afternoon.
Micah Parrish's triple broke a 6-0 scoring drought by Oakland to start the game as the Titans would answer with another corner three early on with under 17:30 to go. Both teams would exchange possessions as OU found itself down 11-3 in this slow scoring game with the Golden Grizzlies shooting at 12.5% (1-9) at the under 16 timeout.
The Titans would continue to extend their lead by 11 as Cain would try to slow the bleeding.Things still went Detroit Mercy's way with the Titans shooting 50% (5-10) from deep with Oakland scraping into the 19-7 deficit.
Cain and Moore would dig deep, bringing UDM's lead back down to 10 with 6:30 to go as the Titans would continue to answer every Oakland possession with a three. Cain dished an assist from the inside out to Parrish to bring things back down to a nine-point lead for UDM with the game at 30-21.
Cain would pound the rock inside to bring Oakland as close as they have all game at 3:31 in a seven-point hole. Parrish's steal led to a Moore layup that rolled around every inch of the rim and landed as the game approached two minutes to go in the first half with the game at 32-26.
The grad senior would go on to hit 14 points in the first half as he drilled two free throws that pulled Oakland back within two at 32-30 that predated a Titans turnover that forced a UDM timeout with 32 seconds to go in the half.
Oakland overcame a 15-point hole early in the first half to go into the locker room down by two at 32-30 with Cain at 14 points, Parrish just behind with 11. Moore tallied five assists with Cain also leading the way in rebounds with five.
The Golden Grizzlies improved their shooting to 32.1% (9-28) from the field, 83.3% (10-12) from the line. The Titans coughed up the ball 10 times to 11 Oakland points off turnovers.
Cain and Moore's free throws to start the second half brought Detroit Mercy's lead down to 35-34 as the team's record suggested a 3-5 season record when down at the half. Trey Townsend's breakaway steal sent a pass to Blake Lampman for the slam and OU's first lead of the afternoon.
Detroit Mercy would come out firing from deep just as they had to start the game, stretching its lead back up by six as Cain would continue to pour on points from underneath the rim. Parrish's fastbreak slam would put the O'rena faithful to its feet as Lampman would drain a triple to put Oakland back up with the game ticking to 12 minutes left at 53-50 in favor of the home OU.
With 11:12 to go, Parrish hit two free throws to go up 55-50 over the Titans before Cain followed up to give OU its largest lead of the game at 10 with the game steady at 9:39 with the score 60-50.
Osei Price's triple put OU up by 12 with just under 5:30 remaining as the Titans' shooting decreased to 37.5% (21-49) in the second half with the Golden Grizzlies' Cain securing his second straight game with 20-plus points and Moore's second straight with 10 or more assists.
Cain scored eight of the last nine points for Oakland as Brody Parker's free throw iced things for the Golden Grizzlies as it walked away with a 75-59 victory in the Metro Series in front of a packed crowd at the O'rena.
Cain's 32 points is his second-highest in an Oakland uniform as the grad senior also led with 11 boards for his 14th double double this season and his second-straight 20-plus point game. Moore finished with his second-straight 10-plus assist game with 11 as Parrish tallied 17 points to his credit, Moore with 13 respectively.
OU shot 42.9% (24-56) from the floor after starting out 12.5% (1-6). Detroit's shooting froze as the turnovers went up for the Titans as they handed 14 turnovers to the Golden Grizzlies where the home team was able to capitalize with 18 points off those turnovers.
Oakland improves to 11-4 in the Horizon League, 18-8 on the season as the team slides back into second in the conference standings. Through two games, Cain has tallied a total of 61 points.
A nationally televised match with Wright State is next for Oakland on Friday, February 18 at 9:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
