The Golden Grizzlies claimed their sixth-straight victory over Metro Series rival Detroit Mercy, 78-69, led by Xavier Hill-Mais’ 10th-career double-double.
ROCHESTER, Michigan – The Oakland University men’s basketball team made program history in the O’rena on Saturday, December 28, defeating Detroit Mercy for a sixth-straight time in the series. Senior Xavier Hill-Mais’ 10th career double-double powered the Golden Grizzlies to the 78-69 victory.
Oakland (6-8, 1-0 HL) had three scorers hit double digits in the highest output by the Golden Grizzlies since scoring 94 in the season opener against Goshen on November 5. Behind Hill-Mais’ 19 points was sophomore Tray Maddox Jr., going 6-of-13 from the field for 18. Freshman Blake Lampman bounced back from a pair of cold shooting nights, hitting 4-of-9 from deep for 12 points. Lampman leads the team with 24 triples to date.
Senior Brad Brechting and Hill-Mais hit double digits in the rebounding column, pulling down 10 apiece. Brechting has double-figure rebounds in back-to-back games, as Hill-Mais’ effort put him over the century mark on the season – 109. Junior Kevin Kangu and Lampman combined for 11 assists – six and five, respectively – as Oakland dished out a season-best 22 helpers on 29 made field goals.
The Horizon League’s Preseason Player of the Year, Antoine Davis, finished with a game-high 24 points and six assists on 4-of-17 shooting from the field for Detroit Mercy (2-11, 0-1 HL). Twelve of Davis’ 24 came from the charity stripe, and he was held scoreless from inside the three-point line. Chris Brandon hauled in a career-best 18 rebounds, highlighted by nine on the offensive end of the floor.
Oakland spent much of the game leading by double-digits, opening the game on a 14-0 run. The largest lead for the Golden Grizzlies came at the break, as the Black and Gold took a 46-26 advantage into the locker room.
The closest the Titans came in the second half was cutting the deficit to eight, 60-52, with 7:55 to play powered by a quick 6-0 run. Sophomore Daniel Oladapo ended the spurt though with a two-pointer thanks to a helper from Brechting.
Oakland returns to the Blacktop next time out, hosting Wright State (11-4, 1-0 HL) on Friday, January 3, at 7 pm. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Notes
- The victory gave Oakland a program-best sixth straight win over the Titans. The longest winning streak in the series belongs to Detroit Mercy, winning the first 10 matchups from 1973-2000. Since the flip of the century, the Golden Grizzlies are 12-3 in the series, with the Titans’ last victory coming on January 13, 2017.
- Oakland is 6-1 all-time in Horizon League openers and 4-0 while opening league play in the O’rena since joining the conference in 2013.
- The nine made triples by Oakland was a season-high. Five different Golden Grizzlies hit from deep, led by Blake Lampman’s four.
- With 10 rebounds against the Titans, Xavier Hill-Mais eclipsed the century mark on the season (109) and the 500 mark in his career (508) in the category.
- Xavier Hill-Mais’ 19 points and 10 rebounds was good for his 10th career double-double and fourth of the campaign. Hill-Mais has scored in double figures in 13 of 14 games this season, and has notched a double-double every time he hits double figures on the glass.
- Brad Brechting notched another double-digit rebounding effort, his second in as many attempts and third of the season.
- Oakland came into the matchup with the League’s top defense, surrendering just 64.8 points per game. The Golden Grizzlies kept the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year scoreless from inside the three-point line, forcing Antoine Davis to go 4-of-17 from the floor. Davis scored half his points from the free throw line. Oakland defense shut down the 2018-19 Big Ten Player of the Year earlier this season, holding Cassius Winston to nine points on December 14 versus Michigan State.
- The 78 points by Oakland was the most since the season opening against Goshen, when the Golden Grizzlies posted 94. This was just the fourth time this year that Oakland has scored 70 or more points.
- The Golden Grizzlies dominated the paint against the Titans, outscoring Detroit Mercy 38-10.
- Zach Goodline recorded his first-career minutes, playing over eight minutes against Detroit Mercy. Goodline finished with three assists, a steal and plus-five on the outing.
- Kevin Kangu returned to the starting lineup tonight for the Golden Grizzlies after Madison Monroe got the nod the last two outings. Joining Kangu was Brad Brechting, Xavier Hill-Mais, Tray Maddox Jr. and Daniel Oladapo. The combo is 5-4 on the season.
