Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team fell victim to a poor shooting performance, allowing the visiting DePauw University Tigers to come away with a 64-53 win over the Yeomen on Saturday afternoon at Philips Gym.
Oberlin shot just 34-percent (18-of-53), which included a lackluster 3-of-20 (15%) showing from beyond the arc. The Yeomen also hindered their own cause with a subpar 56-percent effort at the free throw line – making just 14-of-25 freebies.
The loss is just second of the year at home for Yeomen, who entered the game with a record of 13-4 at Philips Gym dating to the 2014-15 season. Overall, the Yeomen fell back to 11-8 and are now an even 6-6 in the NCAC. DePauw, which swept the season series against Oberlin, is now 7-12 and 3-9 in league play.
Junior guard
Zach Meyers spearheaded the Oberlin attack with a career-high 19 points while rookie
Eli Silverman-Lloyd was the only other Yeoman in double figures as he finished with 11 on 5-of-10 shooting.
Both teams struggled to find their offensive rhythm for much of the first half. A 3-ball from Silverman-Lloyd tied the game at 16 with 5:32 left in the opening stanza, but the Tigers closed the frame on a 15-4 run to take a 31-20 lead into the intermission.
Early in the second half three straight free throws from
Jack Poyle cut the DePauw lead down to seven, 33-26, but the Yeomen were meet by a 12-0 Tigers' response that ballooned the lead all the way up to 19, 45-26, with 13:48 left to play.
Trailing by 17 at 6:32 mark, Oberlin did have one last surge to try and get back into the game. A steal and fastbreak layup from Meyers trimmed the margin down to 11, 53-42, with 4:04 still remaining in the game. He would later make it an 8-point deficit with an old-fashioned 3-point play at the 1:50 mark.
It was Meyers again who keep the Yeomen alive as his rainbow 3-pointer with 90 seconds to go had the Yeomen within six, 56-50, but the Tigers were able to hang on by hitting 6-of-8 free throws to go along with a layup to put the game away for good.
The second half was even with both teams posting 33 points in the session. DePauw didn't shoot it much better than the Yeomen, finishing at 38.5-percent (20-of-52) in the win to stop its seven-game losing streak.
Oberlin will look to get back into the win column win Denison University comes to town on Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. tip.
