ROCHESTER, Mich. - Fred Oguns scored a game-high 18 points, including eight of Western Illinois' first 12 points of the game, but the Leathernecks dropped a 68-64 decision at Oakland, their fourth consecutive game decided by six points or less.The Golden Grizzlies (9-13, 4-6) scored their final six points at the free throw line as Derick Nelson broke the 11th tie of the game with a pair of free throws at the 1:48 mark. Oakland had a 65-62 lead and possession under the Leathernecks' basket with 22 seconds remaining when Sean Blalock stripped the ball from Calvin Wooten and found Eliz Cepeda for a quick layup. Nelson hit another pair from the line with 11 seconds to go that pushed the lead back to three, and Blalock missed a three-pointer from the right corner with three seconds left. The Leathernecks (6-15, 2-8) led for a majority of the first half, by as many as seven, 25-18, with just under five minutes left. The Grizzlies finished the half on a 6-1 run but Western maintained a one-point lead, 25-24, at the break. Neither team led by more than four in the second half. Western was doubled-up at the line, hitting 14 of their 21 attempts while the Golden Grizzlies hit 29-of-42, including 21-of-29 in the second half when the Leathernecks were 7-of-8.The Leathernecks outrebounded their sixth straight opponent (37-30), outshot their fourth straight opponent (.447-.391) and hit eight three-pointers to Oakland's three. OU did have a 16-7 edge, however, in turnovers. David Jackson added 15 points for the Leathernecks, hitting a trio of three-pointers in the second half. Blalock recorded a career-high nine rebounds and matched a personal-best eight assists. Oakland, paced by Rick Billings' 17 points, had five players in double figures.Postgame quotes from Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas"We battled really hard tonight. Any time Oakland made a move we were able to answer. It's really tough to lose another close one. We deserved to win.""I've been very pleased with our effort the last four games. We've been right there in all of them. We're able to move the basketball, get the shots we want and we're outrebounding our opponents. We need to work on our turnovers and figure out why we're allowing so many free throws."On Blalock's final shot:"We had a good look. It went just the way we designed it. They played good perimeter defense early and Sean got a little open and we were able to pop it out to him. I thought we were headed to overtime when it left his hands. It just went in and popped back out. On starting an entire week off after playing seven games in 14 days:"We finally get some rest next week. We'll be able to practice for a change and put some new things in. We need to get our legs back, focus on getting our free throw percentage back up and fix our turnovers."Postgame notes:- Sammy Hunter hit a career-high three three-pointers- Sean Blalock grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and tied a career-high with eight assists, set originally in the season-opener.- Nathan Koster hit a season-best two three-pointers.- The Leathernecks shot 6-of-9 from long-range in the second half. - Oakland's 39.1 shooting percentage from the field was the lowest for a Leatherneck opponent since UMKC shot 36.8 seven games ago.- The last four games have been decided by six points or less. Western is 1-3 during that stretch and 5-5 on the season in games decided by less than 10 points.- Oakland's first field goal of the game did not come until the 14:51 mark.- Oakland was 0-of-8 from three-point range in the first half and ended the game 3-of-13.- Oakland scored 12 of its last 14 points, over the last seven minutes, at the line.- Calvin Wooten, who scored 40 points in Oakland's last outing, was held to 10 points by Sammy Hunter and Sean Blalock.