The Oakland men’s basketball team dropped its third straight game on Wednesday, Nov. 16 to Toledo. Trey Townsend posted a career high 30 points, but the Rockets shot over 50% from 3-point range to secure the win. 

With the loss, Oakland fell to 1-3 on the season with other losses to Bowling Green and Oklahoma State. 

The game didn’t start out particularly well for Oakland. Toledo jumped out to a 6-0 lead less than a minute and a half into the game. Keaton Hervey and Rocket Watts each knocked down 3-pointers not too much longer afterward, and the Golden Grizzlies cut the lead to three.

However, Toledo then began to take over. The Rockets went on an ensuing 19-5 run, and Oakland was behind big early on. 

Toledo continued to expand its lead, and the Rockets built a 20-point lead with 9:13 still to play in the first half. 

Each team had its own runs to close out the first half, but ultimately the Rockets carried that same 20-point lead into the locker room for halftime. 

Things didn’t exactly go Oakland’s way in the second half, either. The Golden Grizzlies cut the lead to as few as 11, but Toledo’s great shooting night continued. 

The Rockets finished up with a 112-90 win over Oakland. They shot 61.6% from the floor and 53.8% from behind the arc as they easily disposed of the Golden Grizzlies. 

Townsend had a heroic 30-point effort in the loss. The junior forward shot 12-21 from the floor and a remarkable 6-7 from distance, finishing with no turnovers and 10 rebounds to secure the double-double.

Jalen Moore added 19 points in 35 minutes. The senior guard didn’t have a great 3-point shooting night as he failed to connect on four attempts, but he was 6-16 from the floor, and he added seven points from the charity stripe.

Osei Price scored 13 points off the bench in 23 minutes of action. He finished with a very efficient 4-6 shooting night from the floor, including 2-4 from beyond the arc. 

Blake Lampman and Keaton Hervey each scored 12 points. Lampman shot 4-11 from the field and 3-8 from deep, while Hervey shot 5-10 from the floor and 1-4 from distance in the loss.

Obviously it wasn’t a great defensive performance from Oakland, but other teams practice, too, and Toledo’s J.T. Shumate came ready to play. 

The 6-foot-7 forward tallied 33 points on an astounding 15-21 shooting. He shot 3-6 from 3-point range and was the driving force in helping Toledo to the big victory.

Oakland went on to defeat Eastern Michigan in its next game, and now the Golden Grizzlies will pack their bags as they embark on a trip that should create memories to last lifetimes. 

Greg Kampe’s team will head to the Bahamas to compete in the 2022 Nassau Championship. The team will open with Long Beach State on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8 p.m.