Delaware, Ohio – Oberlin College men's basketball couldn't find an answer for the No. 13 Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University as they dropped their quarterfinal matchup, 83-66.
The Yeomen entered the 2015 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament as the eighth seed while the high-powered Battling Bishops sat atop the conference as the No. 1 seed.
Ohio Wesleyan jumped out to a 6-0 lead early. The Yeomen cut their deficit back to one, 10-9 at the 15:28 mark, but the Bishops' offense hit full throttle in the final stages of the first half.
Ohio Wesleyan composed an 18-8 run in the next five minutes to extend their advantage to 28-17. With 6:49 remaining in the first frame, the Yeomen sliced the Bishops' lead to three, 35-32, with a three-ball from senior
Austin Little, who finished with 15 points in his final game toting the Crimson and Gold. Little was the only Yeoman off of the bench to finish in double-figures.
Ohio Wesleyan immediately padded their lead and closed out the first stanza with 19-7 run to grab a 54-39 advantage heading into halftime.
The Yeomen elevated the defensive pressure in the second half, holding the dangerous Bishops to 29 points in the period. Unfortunately, the Yeomen's 27-point performance in the second frame wasn't enough to overcome the large deficit.
Junior
Randy Ollie led the Yeomen offensively with a 20-point performance in the quarterfinal matchup just like he did a week ago in the final regular season meeting a week ago. Ollie was two points off of a career-high in scoring while collecting eight rebounds and two blocks.
Yeomen leading scorer
Jack Poyle finished with 10 points and six rebounds in the loss.
Despite the tough loss in Delaware, the Yeomen's season was one of the most successful in recent history. Head Coach
Isaiah Cavaco's crew finished with 10 wins for the first time since the 1991-92 campaign.
The 2014-15 campaign also marks the most conference wins (6) since the '91-'92 season.
