Thursday's state hoops: Oakland downs Cleveland State in battle for first

In a battle for the top spot in the Horizon League heading into the heart of conference play, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies finally got their first taste of revenge against conference rival Cleveland State, pulling out a 70-65 win on the road Thursday night. 

Trey Townsend’s layup with just over a minute left gave Oakland a two-point advantage, and the Golden Grizzlies were able to force a turnover late and seal the deal with a pair of key free throws. 

Townsend finished with 20 points and six rebounds to lead Oakland (12-4, 6-0 Horizon), while Jalen Moore filled the stat sheet with 14 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. 

D’Moi Hodge scored 20 points to lead the way for Cleveland State (10-4, 6-1 Horizon) and Torrey Patton recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, as the Vikings had their four game win streak snapped. 

It was the first meeting between the schools since last year’s Horizon championship game, won by Cleveland State, 80-69, who went 3-0 against Oakland last season. 

State hoops: In battle of Horizon unbeatens, 'it's time' for Oakland to see where it's at

More men's hoops

IPFW 62, Detroit Mercy 60: It came down to one shot, but Detroit Mercy came up short on the last second attempt and fell to Purdue Fort Wayne, 62-60 Thursday night on the road.

Madut Akec finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds along with four steals for the Titans  (5-8, 3-1 Horizon), while leading scorer Antoine Davis led the way with a game-high 17 points and six assists.

Damian Chong Qui led the way for the Mastodons (8-7, 4-3 Horizon) with 10 points, as one of eight players to score for IPFW. 

Michigan Tech 62, Wayne State 51: Michigan Tech stepped foot on the Wayne State home court, took a big first half lead and never looked back on their way to a 62-51 road victory on Thursday night. 

Adam Hobson led the way for Michigan Tech (10-3, 6-1 GLIAC) with 17 points, while Owen White added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Huskies. 

Avery Lewis finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors (2-7,1-5 GLIAC). 

Women's state hoops

No. 11 Michigan 74, Penn State 57: No. 11 Michigan raced out to a 10-0 lead and had several players score in double figures, knocking off Penn State 74-57 Thursday in a Big Ten road matchup. 

Naz Hillmon scored 21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter to keep Penn State from making it a contest towards the end. Leigha Brown chipped in 17 points and five boards, while Maddie Nolan added 15 points and six rebounds, with Emily Kiser posting a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards.

Michigan hit the halftime break with a 39-27 lead, and then started the second half with a 9-1 run that helped push Michigan's lead to 20, 48-28, in the first few minutes of the third.

Penn State never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way as Michigan cruised to steal the victory going away. 

Oakland 62, Wright State 51: After not playing a home game for nearly a month and a half, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies didn't miss a beat as they took down Wright State, 62-51, at the O'Rena on Thursday.

The Golden Grizzlies (7-7, 5-2 Horizon) were led Breanne Beatty's 16 points, and Kayla Luchenbach adding 14 points and five rebounds. 

Deesh Beck and Destyne Jackson each finished with 12 points to lead the way for Wright State (1-12, 0-8 Horizon). 

Northern Kentucky 74, Detroit Mercy 54: Brandi Washington posted 20 points and six rebounds for Detroit Mercy, but it wasn't nearly enough as the Titans got deralied by visiting Northern Kentucky, 74-54 on Thursday night at Calihan Hall. 

Janna Lewis added 11 points for the Detroit Mercy (0-15, 0-8 Horizon), who fell behind early and could never gain traction to keep up with NKU.

The Norse (10-3, 4-2 Horizon) had a balanced attack on offense, led by Lindsey Duvall with 19 points, with Kailee Davis added 16 points to lead four double-digit scorers.

Detroit Mercy was pounded on the glass, as NKU grabbed 18 offensive boards which led to 26 second chance points. The Norse also held a 45-29 overall rebounding advantage.