Youngstown, Ohio — Blake Lampman made six of Oakland's nine second-half 3-pointers, and the Youngstown State men's basketball team fell 88-81 on Sunday afternoon at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins led 45-37 with 18:32 left in the game, but Oakland went on a 26-9 run over the next seven-plus minutes and did not trail again.
Lampman finished with a game-high 26 points, and he made six of his first eight attempts from 3-point range in the second half. The Golden Grizzlies were 9-for-13 as a team in the final 20 minutes as they outscored the Penguins 53-42.
Youngstown State had its seven-game winning streak snapped and dropped their first Horizon League contest of the season. YSU is now 10-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while Oakland improved to 7-8 overall and 2-2 against the conference.
Ziggy Reid and Brett Thompson scored 16 points apiece to lead four Penguins reaching double figures. EJ Farmer added 14 points off the bench, and DJ Burns added 10.
Complementing Lampman, Chris Conway scored 18 points, and Trey Townsend scored 15 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies held a 34-24 rebounding edge in the game, and they outshot the Penguins 55.8% to 44.4% from the field.
Youngstown State made nine 3-pointers in the first half, and Oakland made nine in the second half. There were 13 lead changes in the first half, but just one in the second as Oakland maintained the advantage once it was able to take the lead.
The score was within a possession for the first seven minutes, and a driving layup by Bryson Langdon and a 3-pointer by Farmer gave Youngstown State a 16-12 advantage at the 12:45 mark.
Oakland scored seven of the next nine points to reclaim a 19-18 lead, and two free throws by Townsend with 7:10 remaining gave the Golden Grizzlies their largest lead of the half at 26-23. Burns hit a jumper on YSU's next possession to spark a 10-0 run, which Reid finished with back-to-back 3-pointers. His second gave the Penguins a 33-26 lead with 4:54 on the clock. That run resulted in the 13th and final lead change of the half.
Farmer nailed YSU's ninth 3-pointer of the half with 1:13 remaining to give the Penguins a 39-33 advantage, and the lead was 39-35 at halftime.
A Burns jumper and a Reid free throw got YSU's lead back to seven at 42-35 less than a minute into the second half, and Reid's third 3-pointer of the afternoon stretched the margin to its largest at 45-37 at the 18:32 mark.
That's when Lampman started to get hot for Oakland. The senior guard hit five 3-pointers in a span of six minutes, and his second gave the Golden Grizzlies their first lead of the second half at 47-45 with 16:37 remaining.
The Penguins tied the score at 50 and 52 on baskets by Reid and Farmer, but they went without a field goal for nearly three minutes as Oakland took its largest lead. Lampan hit two more 3s, and a 3-pointer by DQ Cole pushed the difference to 61-54 at the 11:38 mark.
Conway followed with two free throws with 11:11 left to make it a nine-point advantage, which was the largest for either team up to that point. Those charity tosses finished an extended 26-9 run for Oakland going back to win YSU led 45-37.
The Penguins clawed back to within four at 68-64 following a three-point play Thompson at the 7:37 mark, but the Golden Grizzlies got a 3-pointer by Jack Gohlke at the end of the shot clock and Lampman's sixth 3 in the half at the 4:46 mark to go up 78-68.
YSU was able to get within five twice with plenty of time remaining. The deficit was 81-76 after a reverse layup with 2:25 remaining, but the Penguins missed their next five field-goal attempts. Oakland led 88-78 after Lampman made two free throws with 15 seconds left, and Thompson hit a 3 on YSU's final possession.
Youngstown State will begin 2024 by playing at Northern Kentucky on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
