Oakland Men's Basketball Handles EMU in Away Showcase

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Play-by-play: Joey Hayes

Color: Justin Sheapperd

Studio: Harjun Buttar

Oakland comes away with a win against the Eastern Michigan Eagles on the road at the George Gervin GameAbove Center in Ypsilanti. The final score was 77-63.

The Grizzlies came into this game off a heartbreaking loss to the Toledo Rockets at the OU Credit Union O’Rena, and were looking to get back on track against their in-state contemporaries. The Eagles, in their second year under head coach Stan Heath, came into this game 5-3 and off a 68-53 win over the Division II Lake Superior State Lakers. 

The last contest between Oakland and Eastern Michigan went to double overtime, with Oakland coming away with a 92-90 win off a last-second Trey Townsend layup. Both teams looked different compared to last year’s contest, with superstars like Oakland’s Jalen Moore and Eastern Michigan’s Emoni Bates moving on to the professional levels.

Both teams also had rising stars waiting in the wings to take over; for Oakland, it was Trey Townsend, and Eastern boasted Tyson Acuff, who played large parts for their teams coming into this game.

Following a 5-0 start by the Eagles, Oakland took the lead with 15 minutes to go in the first half and did not relinquish the lead the remainder of the contest. An Isaiah Jones three-pointer with 7:15 left gave Oakland an 11-point lead.

However, in the dwindling moments of the first half, the Eagles took advantage of Oakland’s spacing to cut the lead to just three going into the halftime break.

Oakland got off to a hot offensive start at the beginning of the second half, which they sorely needed after poor second-half starts in their previous two contests. However, Eastern Michigan tried their best to continue working the ball into weak spots in the Kampe Zone and did not let the lead become too large. 

A two-minute 8-0 run by the Golden Grizzlies took the air out of the building, with junior college transfer DQ Cole putting the cherry on top with a three-pointer. Again, the Eagles tried to match Oakland’s intensity but the Golden Grizzlies were quick to put a stop to it. 

Oakland’s next game will be against their Goliath, the Michigan State Spartans, on December 18th. With a good start to the season, all eyes will be focused on Oakland to take advantage of the best opportunity to vanquish the Spartans finally. You can catch that one on wxou.org/live!

WXOU’s next broadcast will be December 17th, when the Oakland Lady Grizzlies take on the visiting Toledo Rockets at the OU Credit Union O’Rena.