ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Golden Grizzlies men's basketball team continues MACtion, this time on the road, as it stays in Michigan to face-off against Eastern Michigan inside the Gervin GameAbove Center, with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. ET.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (5-5, 1-1 HL) fell short in its last game against Toledo (Dec. 6) at the O'rena after a valiant comeback came up short.
 
Oakland jumped to a lead, 36-32, after the first 20 minutes of play, highlighted by Blake Lampman sank his first three shots from behind the arc after having not seen action since Illinois (Nov. 10) due to injury. The Golden Grizzlies fell behind in the opening minutes of the second half after the Rockets proceeded on an 18-2 run to put the Golden Grizzlies down by double-digits.
 
Oakland saw its largest deficit of the game at the 12:31 mark when it went down by 14, but the Golden Grizzlies battled back to remain in the game. Back-to-back threes from Jack Gohlke, followed by Lampman, gave Oakland the momentum to cut the lead to one and eventually take it back with 5:25 to go.
 
The teams battled back-and-forth with slight lead changes and ties, but with under a minute left, a layup followed by two free throws put Oakland down three with :19 seconds to play. Isaiah Jones came down the court and converted off a second-chance layup as the Golden Grizzlies sent the Rockets to the line for a one-and-one.
 
Toledo missed its first free throw and the Golden Grizzlies grabbed it, called a timeout and drew up a play. After some contact under the rim, the Golden Grizzlies final effort didn't go through as the team fell in a tight match, 69-68.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (5-5, 1-1 HL) welcomed back Lampman in a big way after his first made threes as he finished the game with 14 points in 28 minutes. Trey Townsend tied Lampman for the team lead in points as he grabbed six off the glass.
 
The Golden Grizzlies went 10-of-30 from the floor in the second half to put its total field goal percentage at a clip of .426. Oakland played strong d in the second half and lowered the Rockets overall field goal percentage to 47.1% after its 54.5% in the first half. Oakland narrowly beat out Toledo on the glass, 29 compared to 28, as the Golden Grizzlies attributed 24 points off the bench.
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
This is the 14th meeting between the Golden Grizzlies and the Eagles, with its last matchup coming from last season on Nov. 19, 2022. Oakland took home the win, 92-90, in a thrilling overtime win at the O'rena. The Golden Grizzlies took a nine-point lead into half, but the Eagles crawled back in the second half and put itself up by four with :25 seconds to play. Two free throws from Osei Price, followed by a steal, gave the Golden Grizzlies the ball down two. Townsend drove in with seconds left and layed one up to send the game to overtime. The Golden Grizzlies were down in the final two minutes of overtime, but Lampman drilled a three to tie things up, as Townsend once again made the layup with :09 seconds left to seal the game. Townsend, Rocket Watts, Lampman, Chris Conway and Price all saw minutes in the win as, in total, the Golden Grizzlies had six players record double-digit point games.
 
The Golden Grizzlies hold a 7-6 record over the Eagles which dates back to 1987 when the Eagles took its first game, 117-107. Oakland heads into Friday's matchup on a two-game win streak against Eastern Michigan with its previous win on Dec. 22, 2017 on its home floor, 86-81. The Golden Grizzlies average 80.85 points per game when its sees the Eagles, and are 6-4 in its last 10. Oakland will look to even its road record as the team is 3-4 when it plays in Ypsilanti.
 
Eastern Michigan (5-3, 0-0 MAC) beat Division II Lake Superior State, 68-53, at home after it dropped its previous game against North Dakota. The Eagles opened its season with a road loss against Butler, but rattled off four wins in its next five. The Golden Grizzlies are the third and final Horizon League school the Eagles have faced this year and are 2-0 by a slight margin.
 
In mid-November, Eastern Michigan faced Cleveland State, followed by Detroit Mercy, with Cleveland State coming from home. Inside the Gervin GameAbove Center, the Eagles took down the Vikings, 69-62, followed by a four-point win in Detroit, 76-72.
 
In its win over the Lakers, the Eagles headed into the locker room knotted up at 29, but took the game over in the second half to pull away with the win. Junior Tyson Acuff led the game with 24 points (10-of-20 FG) and tied for the team-lead with three assists. Right behind was Yusuf Jihad who nearly recorded a double-double with 12 points and eight boards. The Eagles shot 44.4% from the floor with six threes to help hand the Lakers its first loss of the season.
 
Acuff leads the way significantly for the Eagles as the team's leading scorer and is the only player Eastern Michigan that averages double-digit points per game. With 22.8 per game, Acuff leads all of the MAC and is seventh in the NCAA in points per game.
 
The Eagles get outscored by its opponents, 73.0-67.4, but shoot better from the floor at a clip of .460 to .449. Eastern Michigan falls off the glass by a margin of -1.3 and have turned the ball over 101 times.
 
Tip-off from the Gervin GameAbove Center is slated for 7:00 PM ET Friday, Dec. 8.
 
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