HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Extending their win streak to three games and moving above .500 in Horizon League play, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies knocked off the conference-leading Northern Kentucky Norse, 64-63, on Friday, January 6 at Truist Arena.
This was the first road victory of the season for the Golden Grizzlies, who are now 5-11 and 3-2 in Horizon League action. Northern Kentucky falls to 9-7 and 4-1 in the conference, still good enough to tie the Norse with the Milwaukee Panthers atop the standings.
Northern Kentucky led by five, 33-28, at the halftime break, but Oakland rallied back to move ahead 45-44 with 7:48 to play on a bucket by senior point guard
Jalen Moore, who ended up with a game-high 17 points.
The Norse came up with a response of their own, however, and things were looking grim for the Golden Grizzlies when junior Trey Robinson buried a 3 to put Northern Kentucky up by seven, 62-55, with just 1:35 remaining.
Remarkably, Oakland finished the final 95 seconds of the contest on a 9-1 run, with Moore tallying every point.
The sixth-best free throw shooter in the Horizon League at 80.5 percent this season, Moore's ability to reach the foul line was on full display throughout the Golden Grizzlies' comeback, as he drew fouls on two separate 3-point tries, the latter of which occurred with just five seconds left and resulted in the game's final points, and hit all six attempts at the stripe.
Moore's heroics undoubtedly saved the day, but a quartet of teammates joined him in double figures, with sophomore
Trey Townsend recording 14 and
Chris Conway,
Keaton Hervey and
Rocket Watts all adding 10.
Junior guard and Lexington native Marques Warrick, the second-leading scorer in the conference at 19.2 points-per-game, led the Norse with 16.
As a team, Oakland shot 39.6 percent (21-53), including 30.4 percent (7-23) from distance. Paced by Moore's 9-10 showing, the Golden Grizzlies were an extremely strong 15-18 (83.3 percent) at the free throw line.
Oakland outrebounded Northern Kentucky, 35-30, and the Norse narrowly finished with the edge in the assist column, 16-14.
GRIZZVISION WITH NEAL RUHL AND HEAD COACH GREG KAMPE
UP NEXT
Completing a two-game road trip, the Golden Grizzlies will next battle the Wright State Raiders on Sunday, January 8 at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
Defeating the Detroit Mercy Titans in their Friday tilt, Wright State will enter play at 9-7 (2-3) and on a two-game winning streak of their own.
