Grizzlies Defeat Rival Detroit Mercy on Senior Night, Win Outright Regular Season Title

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The Oakland Golden Grizzlies stave off their crosstown rival Detroit Mercy at the OU Credit Union O’rena to cap off their regular season. The final score was 75-70.

Oakland came into this game following a devastating loss to the Wright State Raiders. Problems on both sides of the ball doomed the Grizzlies, and Wright State’s dual threat in the paint went to work to punish Oakland. They won the Horizon League Regular Season Title, with a chance to win it outright if they defeated Detroit Mercy.

The Detroit Mercy Titans came into this game with a 1-18 Horizon League record, and fresh off a 69-55 loss to the Youngstown State Penguins, in a game where the Titans had to overcome a terrible 19-point offensive performance and a 14-point margin in the first half. They truly had nothing to lose, having locked up the bottom seed in the Horizon League Tournament. 

Detroit Mercy shocked Oakland to open up the first half, with Jayden Stone and Marcus Tankersley raining threes down on Oakland. Blake Lampman was the sole spark plug to start the game, scoring ten in the first minutes of the contest. After hammering down some more shots from distance, Oakland was forced to switch their defense to taking away three-pointers which opened up passing lanes and dribble-drives to the basket. Trey Townsend, usually efficient from the interior, was having trouble knocking down contested shots; and Oakland’s superior paint offense was not able to find its footing. Grizzlies trailed 35-31 going into the half.

Oakland’s offense came alive in the second half, finally opening up their paint game and finding good passes to both Chris Conway and Trey Townsend. Detroit Mercy, however, was able to keep up with the pace that Oakland was playing at, and answered most of Oakland’s points with their own. Oakland turned up the physicality to prevent Detroit Mercy’s splitting of the Kampe Zone, but got stung by fouls, some that left Oakland head coach Greg Kampe and the Oakland crowd perplexed. This was a common theme down the stretch, but Oakland got some key stops and by the seven-minute mark was able to take a lead. Both teams laid punches until the end, and Oakland was able to outclass the Titans nearing the end of the game to give them a much needed victory. 

Following an emotional Senior Night, Oakland will get back on track as the number 1 seed in the Horizon League Tournament. Their opponent has not been determined yet, as Oakland will play the lowest remaining seed from the games in the first round.

The Titans will go on the road to open up their Horizon League Tournament campaign against the sixth-seed Milwaukee Panthers at UWM-Panther Arena. 

WXOU’s next broadcast will be on Thursday March 7th, when the Oakland men’s team starts their journey to the NCAA Tournament and opens up their Horizon League Tournament campaign. Tune in to catch all the action!