Box Score
January 7 – The Oberlin College men's basketball team made 28-of-31 free throws en route to claiming an exciting 75-62 win over local rival Case Western Reserve on Wednesday night at Philips Gym.
Senior
Mike Loll had his best offensive output of the season with 22 points in 32 minutes of work. The Davison, Michigan native also ripped down 11 boards for his first double-double of the season. In addition, the 6-foot-5 swingman guided the Oberlin free throw barrage by going a perfect 11-of-11 at the line. First-year
Josh Merritt registered a career night with 14 points and he too was locked in at stripe – making all eight of his attempts. Senior
Jordan Beard also contributed 16 points and was 7-of-8 on his free throw hoists.
“This was a big win and big confidence booster for us, especially going into a tough four-game road trip,” head coach
Isaiah Cavaco said. “Our guys played very smart tonight and we executed the best we have all year.”
Oberlin (3-8) led wire-to-wire and fought off multiple Case (3-8) comeback attempts. The Yeomen came out of the gates firing – quickly building a 12-2 edge and carried that momentum over to a 31-22 half-time lead.
The Spartans got within four, 33-29, in the opening minutes of the second session, but Oberlin eventually built its advantage up to 13, 49-36, with 8:14 remaining in the game. Case rallied to get within seven, 53-46, just inside the three minute mark, but a deep three-ball from Loll with a hand in his face found nothing but twine and stole the momentum right back.
Case continued to foul on every Oberlin possession in the final two minutes, but the Yeomen cashed in 15-of-16 charity tosses during that stretch to secure the win.
Oberlin, who snapped a seven-game skid with the win, shot 44-percent (22-of-50), while the Spartans checked in at 36.8-percent (21-of-57). Despite being out-sized by CWRU, the Yeomen won the rebounding battle 40-35.
The Yeomen will take to the road over the next two weeks with the first showdown set for Saturday at Denison. Tip-time is set for 3 p.m.
