ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Golden Grizzlies men's basketball team travels to Wisconsin and will look for the season sweep against Green Bay and to pull ahead in the Horizon League standings with a matchup against the Phoenix inside the Resch Center, with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. ET.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (12-8, 7-2 HL) continued its win streak and bumped it to six-straight Horizon League wins after it hosted Youngstown State in another home game that came down to the wire.
 
The Penguins got out to a quick 13-point lead before the Golden Grizzlies got on the board, courtesy of Trey Townsend, at the 14:16 mark of the opening half. Oakland cut its deficit to seven points, but Youngstown State put the lead back to double digits. Blake Lampman found Isaiah Jones wide open under the hoop before he put it through. Lampman drew a foul and made both from the charity stripe, but four-straight points from the Penguins bumped it back to a 10-point Golden Grizzly deficit.
 
Oakland remained down, but Lampman made the O'rena erupt after he drained one from downtown to put the team's deficit to two at 22-20. The Golden Grizzlies clawed back from its deficit and doubled the Penguin's points after the 13-0 run to knot the game up at 26 apiece with help from two free throws from Chris Conway. Youngstown added a three and a layup, but a fadeaway jumper from Townsend capped the first half as Oakland went into the locker room down three, 31-28.
 
The Golden Grizzlies eventually pulled ahead in the second half after DQ Cole made eight-straight points, highlighted by two from deep. The Golden Grizzlies continued its 12-0 run and pushed it to 52-46 as Jack Gohlke got in on the action and made one from deep before a Penguins free throw ended the run. Youngstown State went on a quick 6-0 run to tie the game up, but Lampman made his third shot from range to give Oakland the lead again. The Penguins turned it to a one-point game, but Conway sank his first three of the year to extend the lead.
 
The game teetered back-and-forth with scoring on both ends as Oakland held its ground and kept a one-point lead with 1:16 to play. Conway got fouled under the rim which put Oakland in the bonus as he hit both from the line to give his team a three-point lead. Two makes from the line for the Penguins made it 68-67 in favor of Oakland with under a minute to play.
 
The Penguins forced a turnover and had the ball with the shot clock turned off and called a timeout. After the timeout, the Penguins threw it in its backcourt but mishandled the ball because of immense pressure from Watts as Oakland converted and got two off a goaltending call. The Penguins had one final look with a pair of threes but fell short as the Golden Grizzlies survived and won its sixth-straight game, 70-67.
 
The Golden Grizzlies saw three players in double figures as Conway led the team with 17 points (6-of-8 FG) while Cole tallied eight key points in a span of 0:59 seconds in the second half and led the team in rebounds with eight.
 
The Golden Grizzlies improved significantly from the floor in the second half and shot at a .552 clip (16-of-29 FG) to improve to .446 from the floor. Oakland added seven threes in the final 20 for eight on the game to match Youngstown State's eight. The Penguins won the battle off the glass with 41 boards compared to the Golden Grizzlies 33.
 
SCOUTING THE PHOENIX
The Phoenix (12-9. 7-3 HL) have won seven of its last 10 games, which includes a 79-73 loss to the Golden Grizzlies from earlier this month, as the Phoenix dropped its most recent game against Northern Kentucky on the road, 74-52. Since the Phoenix fell to the Golden Grizzlies on Jan. 6, the team has gone 3-1 and narrowly outscore its opposition, 71.8-71, as its margin of victory in its three wins comes to an average of 7.7 points.
 
In what was a crucial game in regards to Horizon League standings, the Golden Grizzlies took down the Phoenix, 79-73, earlier this month as Green Bay has hung around the top of the league standings with Oakland who is in first.
 
In the win earlier this month, Townsend led the Golden Grizzlies as he recorded his third double-double in four games and tied his season high of 28 points and brought down 11 boards. Fifteen of Lampman's 19 points came from downtown as five Phoenix were in the double figures in points.
 
Oakland held a slight two-point lead after the first 20, and made the lead as much as 12 in the opening minutes of the second half. Lampman made a three to make it a 13-point lead, but Green Bay slowly chipped away at the Golden Grizzlies lead as it was lethal from range. Two threes cut it back to a single-digit lead for Oakland while a pair of Conway free throws and two from Rocket Watts put it back to double digits, but Green Bay converted on a four-point play to make it 60-54 in favor of Oakland.
 
Green Bay eventually tied things up at 69 but clutch free throws down the stretch solidified the game for Oakland as it took the game, 79-73.
 
The team's are at an even 5-5 in the last 10 games against each other as Oakland has won four-straight against the Phoenix. Its last loss in Green Bay was Jan. 9, 2021, as no Horizon League team has beat Green Bay on its home floor this season. In total, the Golden Grizzlies are 5-8 on the road against the Phoenix.
 
Only one player on the Phoenix averages double digit points in Noah Reynolds, who earned Horizon League Player of the Week last week (Jan. 15), as he averages 19.1 points per game. The Phoenix have earned Freshmen of the Week for two-straight weeks, as David Douglas, Jr. (7.8 ppg) earned it last week while Marcus Hall (6.3 ppg) earned it this week. Elijah Jones leads the team with 137 total rebounds, good for 6.5 per game.
 
The team averages 67.7 points per game but holds a strong defense as it holds its opponents to 67.1. The Phoenix shoot, from the floor, at a .459 clip and average 8.9 threes per game, while its opponents shoot .427 from the field with only 5.9 threes per game. The team narrowly wins the battle of the boards with 33.0 per game opposed to its opposition's 31.5 per game.
 
Tip-off from the Resch Center is slated for 7:00 PM ET Thursday, Jan. 25.
 
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