In a rematch of the Horizon League title game last season, Oakland fell on the road to the Milwaukee Panthers 71-66.
It was a game full of twists and turns, Oakland jumped out to a 33-25 first half lead. Then, a turn for the worst.
The Golden Grizzlies yielded a 23-1 Milwaukee run, and found themselves on the brink of getting run out of the gym, down 50-34. With Jaylen Jones sidelined this weekend due to illness, Nassim Mashhour fouled out and DQ Cole with four fouls, Oakland looked dead.
However, through 20 turnovers and that foul trouble, Oakland fought their way back. Jayson Woodrich took over for a few minutes, building off of his magical senior day performance. He went 4-9 from three and ended up as the leading scorer with 14 points on the game. Even in the loss, it is a very positive development for this team to see him looking confident and knocking down shots.
It was an uncharacteristic night for Oakland’s big men, as neither Allen Mukeba or Buru Naivalurua reached double figures. Mukeba ended up with eight points, nine boards and four assists, but was only 2-8 from the field. Life was tough for Naivalurua as well, going 4-9 from the floor for nine points, and he only had two rebounds.
DQ Cole had tons of pressure on him all night, and had a tough stretch in the middle of the game, resulting in six turnovers. He did also post nine assists, while also scoring double figures with 11 points.
Isaiah Jones got to 10 points as well, but shot 0-3 from the three point line. He mad his impact felt with some nice finishes in the paint. Nassim Mashhour and Malcolm Christie each made a couple threes, but both seemed to struggle with the physicality Milwaukee brought.
Oakland is now 13-17, and 10 -9 in league play. With the results on Thursday, you can now lock in the Golden Grizzlies playing a home first round tournament game on Tuesday. They will play either Green Bay or Detroit Mercy.
Before that, Oakland will take on that Green Bay team in the regular season finale. It will interesting to see what the teams decide to do if the games before them on Saturday make a rematch official in the tournament.
The action Saturday night will tip off at 7pm Eastern Time on ESPN+. It marks the final game of the Horizon League regular season schedule.
