ATHERTON, Calif. – The OUAZ men's basketball team's weekend trip to northern California came to an end on Saturday with a 99-92 loss at Menlo College at the Haynes-Prim Pavilion.
 
OUAZ (6-12, 2-7 GSAC) played from behind all night as Menlo (12-6, 6-3) scored the first nine points of the game. The Oaks lead would reach 16 – its largest of the day – with 10:45 to play in the opening half and they carried a 55-42 advantage into halftime.
 
Despite the double-digit deficit, the Spirit wouldn't go away and eventually cut the Menlo lead down to four on two separate occasions. After the home team seemed to take control back by building the lead back to 13 with 5:57 remaining, OUAZ mounted an 11-3 run to trail 92-87 with 1:20 to play. The Oaks would fend off the rally by converting 7 of 8 free throws the rest of the game.
 
OUAZ had one of its best offensive nights of the season in the loss by shooting 58.7 percent from the field and committing just six turnovers. They were hurt by an 8 of 21 performance from beyond the arc while Menlo went 15 of 28 from deep as part of their 50 percent shooting day.
 
For the second time in three games the Spirit had three players reach 20-plus points in a game. Brian Carey led the way with 26 points with Shazier Lawson and Dimetres Moore added 23 and 20 points respectively.
 
Menlo had a 36-27 edge in rebounds. Ross Williams led four Oaks in double figures with 25 points.
 
OUAZ will begin the second half of conference play next week with two more road games. The first is on Thursday at No. 7 Master's in Santa Clarita, Calif.