ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University Men's Basketball suffered its second-straight loss inside the Athletics Center O'rena Sunday afternoon, falling to Northern Kentucky 71-66 to fall to 18-10 overall and 11-6 in the Horizon League.

Jamal Cain was sent to the line early in the game at 19:09 to give Oakland a 2-0 advantage early as Jalen Moore's underneath dish to Cain gave the Pontiac native four points early on. The Norse would answer right back as Micah Parrish was fouled on a three-point attempt to keep the Golden Grizzlies ahead.

A NKU layup would tie things up at 9-9 with 13:34 left as the Golden Grizzlies would answer every one bucket by the Norse with two of their own as Parrish would hit a three (finished 3-5) with just under ten minutes to go in the half to go up by eight.

Moore, Trey Townsend, and Parrish would then combine to give Oakland the lead going into halftime as the Golden Grizzlies were 15-3 when leading at the half as the team led 40-32. 

In the first half, both Cain and Parrish led the team with 13 points as the team shot 40.9% (9-22) from the field to NKU's 35.5% (11-31). Moore had three rebounds and five assists after the first frame with the team had five takeaways for 14 points off the Norse's miscues. 

Brody Parker was able to save an out-going loose ball to shoot it to Cain for a corner three to start the second half and halt a series of Golden Grizzly turnovers that resulted in the Norse crawling within two points.

The save and the 𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙍𝙀. @Brody_Parker14 + @jamalcain24 pic.twitter.com/aOtG6IIB2g

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) February 20, 2022

Parrish then had to battle through a group of gray jerseys to keep Oakland up by three as Moore hit one of his two free throws to go back up by four at 48-44. The Norse retook the lead behind a deep ball at 10:50 left in the half before Moore hit both of his free throws to tie it back up at 5-50. 

Oakland would regain the game's edge by Cain's two free throws out of the under eight media timeout as the Norse would answer back with a triple. Both teams would continue to battle, exchanging leads by flurries of three-pointers, free throws, and battle-hardened layups with the game at 65-56 behind a 9-0 Norse run.

Moore and Blake Lampman helped to get four more points on the board as the Golden Grizzlies pulled back within five as Parrish's fastbreak deep ball to put Oakland within two before the Norse would pull away once more, capitalizing on the 23 turnovers OU would finish with. 

NKU would sink critical free throws down the stretch to suffocate any hopes that Oakland would have of grabbing its twelfth Horizon League win as the buzzer went off at the O'rena for a 71-66 Golden Grizzly loss.

Cain had his 14th 20-plus point performance as the forward finished with 22 points as Parrish was just behind with 18. Cain also led with eight rebounds while Moore nearly finished in double digit assists with nine.

Oakland had the advantage of multiple categories in the final box score, shooting 92.3% (24-26) from the free throw line while the Norse shot 80% (12-15) from the charity stripe. The Golden Grizzlies had more rebounds (35 to 29) and assists (14 to 11) in the final stats though the Norse came out on top behind four-straight possessions that resulted in turnovers to finish the game for Oakland.

The Golden Grizzlies are home for its final two games of the regular season starting on Thursday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the O'rena against Purdue Fort Wayne. 

pic.twitter.com/pPqA8gD84X

— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) February 20, 2022