Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team earned its first win of the new year, defeating the Allegheny College Gators 68-53 on Wednesday night at Philips Gym.
 
Freshman Eli Silverman-Lloyd led the Oberlin attack with a career-high 16 points as he was perfect on the night, connecting on all five of his field goal attempts while going 4-for-4 at the free throw line.
 
Nathan Cohen cashed in three 3-pointers en route to finishing with 13 points while Jack Poyle and Randy Ollie each chipped in with 12 points. Ollie was one rebound shy of a double-double as he ripped down a game-high nine boards.
 
It was a tale of two halves for the Allegheny shooters as they kept things close in the first 20 minutes by hitting 13-of-22 (59.1%) attempts, which included a 5-of-10 showing from beyond the arc. However, the Yeomen's defensive adjustments at the half resulted in Allegheny making just eight of the 28 shots it hoisted for a 28.6-percent clip.
 
The Yeomen opened the game on a 17-2 run over the first seven minutes as the Gators struggled to hang on to the ball – committing eight of their 20 turnovers in the game during that stretch.
 
However, the Gators would settle down and respond with a 12-2 run of their own over the next three minutes to cut the Yeomen advantage to 19-14 at the 10:16 mark.
 
A two-handed dunk from Ollie extended the Oberlin cushion back out to nine, 23-14, but the Gators would fight back to within three on multiple occasions before Andrew Sestina's jumper with 1:41 left in the frame cut the gap to one, 34-33. Oberlin ultimately went into the intermission up 36-33.
 
The Gators would grab their first lead of the game with a pair of threes to start the second half, but from there they would go ice cold, failing to score for nearly nine minutes as the Yeomen retook control of the game with an 18-0 scoring barrage to make it a 54-39 game.
 
The gap would widen out to 19, 66-47, with 2:55 to go and in the closing moments the Gators would get to as close as 13, but the final outcome was never in doubt.
 
The victory snapped a four-game skid for the Yeomen, moving their overall record to 7-6 and 3-4 in the NCAC. Allegheny dropped to 2-12 and 2-5 in league play.
 
Oberlin shot 50 percent in the win, hitting on 24 of its 48 attempts. The Yeomen also benefitted at the free throw line, connecting on 13-of-20 freebies for 65-percent. The Gators went to the stripe just three times, making two.
 
The Yeomen will conclude their three-game homestand on Saturday when they host Hiram at 3 p.m. before hitting the road for four straight.