DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – An early Detroit Mercy lead wasn’t enough as Oakland came roaring back to take the Metro Series match up, 76-67, at Calihan Hall in Detroit. The two schools are just 26 miles a part in the Detroit area.
Oakland’s Jalen Moore led all scorers with 32 points making 14 free throws while UDM’s Damezi Anderson had 22 points for the Titans. Oakland has now won 12 out of the last 13 meetings over UDM and their eighth in a row at Calihan Hall.
“We executed our game plan to perfection,” said Oakland head coach Greg Kampe. “UDM’s Antoine Davis only made three three-pointers and we couldn’t let him get going. Tonight our game plan was lottery winning! We won with our defense tonight.”
In the match up between two of the best guards in the Horizon League, UDM’s Antoine Davis and Oakland’s Moore, Moore had the upper hand. Oakland’s defense shut down Davis only allowing him 14 points as he was 3-of-16 from the floor making just two three-pointers. Moore came away with his 32 points on 50 percent shooting and also added seven assists.
“I think Jalen had a little chip on his shoulder coming in tonight because the whole media was about the guard from Detroit. He never said anything but just the way he went about things differently tonight. I hope he packages it like that for the rest of the games because he was unstoppable going to the rim and made some huge shots with the clock running down,” said Kampe.
UDM jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first six minutes of the game (14:32) only to see Oakland go on a 15-0 run over six minutes for a nine-point lead, 19-10. By the 3:12 mark, Oakland had a 20-point lead, 34-14, on a Rocket Watts fast break layup. UDM’s Davis hit two free throws with four seconds left in the half to cut the lead to 13, 38-25, at the half.
The Titans battled back in the second half bringing the lead down to five, 46-41, on a Damezi Anderson three-pointer with 12:37 left. Anderson then canned another three-pointer two and half minutes later pulling UDM within two, 50-48. In the next minute and half, Oakland put their lead back to nine points, 57-48, on a 7-0 run as Moore finished on a three-pointer. UDM made it a close game with 4:15 to go when Davis nailed a jumper to put the Titans within four, 58-54. That is as close as they would come as Oakland had the lead back to 10, 69-59, with 1:27 left to play and a 12-point lead twice in the final minute before taking the win, 76-67.
Oakland’s Trey Townsend also hit a milestone in win going over 500 career rebounds as he had four in the game. The Grizzlies have not lost on UDM’s campus since January 10, 2015. Oakland is now 9-12 on the year and 7-3 in the Horizon League as UDM falls to 8-13 and 4-6.
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