After a great win over Wright State in the conference home opener, the Oakland men’s basketball team couldn’t pull off a win on the road against the Youngstown State (YSU) Penguins.
After a promising offensive outburst against Toledo, where the team scored 85 points, the scoring production plummeted down to just 50 points. It’s a frustrating loss for a team that only scored over 70 points in one other game (Defiance).
Oakland opened the game with a quick 9-3 lead, attempting to establish forward Allen Mukeba inside. The senior from Belgium scored twice before kicking out to Cooper Craggs for a three.
Youngstown fought back, aided by three early three-pointers from E.J. Farmer that tied the score at 9-9 five minutes into the game. Both teams struggled to score the ball all game; frequent turnovers and missed shots led to prolonged droughts.
OU held a 14-11 lead for a while after Malcolm Christie made all three free throws off a foul. Another Mukeba layup added to his point total on the day.
An over-three-minute drought ended with a Youngstown layup. The Golden Grizzlies would hold the lead until 7:43 in the first half after two quick layups from the Penguins. DQ Cole made up for a previous turnover with a layup of his own to tie it at 17.
A few seconds later, Cole would commit a foul on a Juwan Maxey three-pointer. Maxey would hit two of three, reclaiming the lead. On the next YSU trip down the floor, Maxey would get fouled again, nailing two of two for a four-point lead.
OU couldn’t be held down long. Cole came down the floor and nailed a three-pointer assisted by Cooper Craggs before Mukeba hit a jumper of his own to bring Oakland down 22-23.
Unfortunately, the Penguins had a quick run in them before the half, ripping off a quick 9-1 spurt. Maxey continued to be a thorn in the Golden Grizzlies’ side, hitting a three and two more free throws. He scored 11 in the half for YSU, helping the Penguins to a 32-23 lead.
A scoring eruption opened up the second half. Youngstown’s Farmer reasserted himself in the game after an explosive start; he was fouled on a three-pointer and made all his free throws before drilling another three and making a layup. By the under-16-minute timeout, YSU had expanded their lead to 45-30 as Mukeba made two layups of his own.
Oakland turned to Buru Naivalarua to score early in the half. He made a short jumper between a few other misses. When OU called a timeout at 12:20 left in the half, the Golden Grizzlies had only let up one more basket to Youngstown but had just scored one basket of their own. A 47-32 deficit loomed, appearing especially daunting amidst the team’s shooting struggles.
The Golden Grizzlies appeared to show signs of life after two made Cole free throws. Mukeba again made his presence felt with a layup and a jumper, shrinking YSU’s lead to nine points with under 10 minutes to go. Nico Galette of Youngstown quickly responded, making an and-one layup that stole the momentum from OU. Galette was a nuisance for Oakland all day, finishing with 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Coming out of the under-8-minute timeout, Youngstown’s Jason Nelson drilled a three-pointer, giving them a 55-38 lead. Youngstown would immediately respond to every Oakland basket. OU couldn’t string together enough stops to cut the game back to single digits.
After two Naivalarua layups and a Cole jumper, Oakland found themselves down 62-46 with 3 minutes left to play. Coach Kampe acquiesced down the line and put in some of his bench players. Youngstown closed out the win 66-50.
The only bright spot in an otherwise dreadful game was forward Isaiah Jones’s return from a foot injury. He scored a layup to end the game. His health and leadership will be greatly needed for the remainder of the season.
The Golden Grizzlies shot a dreadful 2-16 from the three, easily in the bottom 10 of Division I . OU must find ways to score the ball if they’re going to succeed.