Oakland Basketball faced off against Rice in the Gulf Coast Showcase semifinals and won to advance to the finals.
Rice came into the game at 4-1 with their only loss being to No. 12 ranked Houston on the road. Oakland Basketball entered this matchup at 3-2 with victories over Toledo, Oklahoma State, and Vermont with their two losses being a seven-point road defeat at West Virginia and a road loss to No. 14 ranked Alabama.
Previous to this game, senior forward Jamal Cain entered this game against the Owls as the leading scorer, rebounder, and had the most steals for the Golden Grizzlies. Cain has scored 22 or more points in his last three games and has had four games where he has grabbed 10 or more rebounds. He also has had three steals in three games this season.
Entering this game, junior point guard Jalen Moore leads Oakland in assists and is the Golden Grizzlies’ second-leading scorer. In a home win against Toledo, he scored 17 points to go with his 11 assists. In the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase, he put up 21 points against Vermont including the game-winning three-pointer. Freshmen Trey Townsend prior to the game against Rice is the Golden Grizzlies leading shot blocker, second-leading rebounder, and third-leading scorer. He had his best games against Vermont when he had 12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, and a steal and a block.
Oakland played well in the first half especially on the defensive end of the floor. They made Rice turn the ball over eight times with four of those turnovers coming from the Golden Grizzlies’ ability to create and get four steals. Oakland also limited the high-powered Owl offense to 33.3% shooting from the field in the first half. Townsend who had 10 points on five for nine shooting led the Golden Grizzlies offense in the first half. Moore had seven points and Cain contributed six but Blake Lampman came off the bench and made two first-half three-pointers to help Oakland go into halftime with a 34-29 lead.
To begin the second half, Townsend score seven points and Lampman made another three-pointer to give Oakland a 49-42 lead. Carl Pierre kept Rice in the game with his 19 points with 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Owls cut the Golden Grizzlies lead to four points with 10 minutes remaining in the game as Moore and Cain were a combined one for nine from beyond the arc until Cain made his first three-pointer of the game with 9:40 left in the game.
With 6:30 remaining in the game, Oakland led 64-57 as Cain had 15 and Townsend had 23 to lead the Golden Grizzlies offense. The Owls kept pace but every time they would shrink Oakland’s led to four points, someone like Townsend would come up with a basket to increase the Golden Grizzlies lead. With 4:39 remaining in the game, Oakland increased their lead by eight on a Cain-made jumper.
With only 1:22 left in the game, Rice cut Oakland’s lead to five but Cain made a layup with 49 seconds left to give the Golden Grizzlies a 72-65 lead. Moore would then make two free throws to put the game out of reach so Oakland thought. The Golden Grizzlies would miss some free throws as Rice made theirs to make it a one-point game with two seconds remaining. However, Oakland would end up winning the game by a final score of 76-73.
Townsend ended the game with 25 points and six rebounds, Cain had 19 points and seven rebounds, and Moore ended up with 13 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds. Oakland waits to play the winner of Fordham and Delaware in the finals of the Gulf Coast Showcase.