FAIRBORN, Ohio – An exciting finish to a two-game road trip through the Bluegrass and Buckeye States, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies defeated the Wright State Raiders, 75-73, on Sunday, January 8 at the Nutter Center.
Junior guard and Detroit native
Rocket Watts played hero for the Golden Grizzlies in this one, hitting the game-winning corner 3-pointer with 12 seconds left off a beautiful feed from senior
Jalen Moore.
Helping Oakland extend their win streak to four games and improve to 6-11 and 4-2 in the Horizon League, Watts finished with 12 points Sunday and has now reached double figures in four-straight contests.
Moore finished with a game-high 20 points and five assists, with sophomores
Chris Conway and
Trey Townsend and junior
Blake Lampman also all pitching in at least 10 points.
After not doing so in the season's first 14 contests, Conway, a 6-foot-9 Naperville (Illinois) Central product, has now scored in double-digits in three consecutive, playing an average of 26.3 minutes during this span.
Snapping their two-game winning streak, Wright State is now 9-8 and 2-4 in conference action. Sophomore center AJ Braun led the Raiders with 15 points Sunday, followed by senior guard Amari Davis and redshirt freshman forward Brandon Noel, both of whom had 14.
Wright State jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first 5:52, but the Golden Grizzlies worked their way back to take a four-point advantage, 44-40, into the halftime break.
The entire second half was played within six points, just two possessions, and the Raiders moved ahead by one, 73-72, on a Davis jumper in the paint with 33 seconds left.
21 ticks later, Moore drove to his right and kicked it out to the corner where Watts was ready and waiting and knocked down quite possibly Oakland's biggest shot of the season thus far.
Sunday was the Golden Grizzlies' eighth win in 24 all-time meetings between these two programs and ended a three-game drought in the series.
GRIZZVISION WITH NEAL RUHL AND HEAD COACH GREG KAMPE
UP NEXT
Returning home after Friday and Sunday's back-to-back road tilts, the Golden Grizzlies will next be in action on Thursday, January 12 on ESPN+ when the Robert Morris Colonials visit at 7 p.m.
Dropping a road contest to the Youngstown State Penguins, 78-56, on Thursday, Robert Morris is 7-9 and 2-3 in the Horizon League and hosts the IUPUI Jaguars on Monday, January 9 at 7 p.m.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SKIP TOWNSEND - TZR SPORTS
