Oberlin, Ohio - The Oberlin College men's basketball team rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit, but couldn't quite get over the hump as the visiting Denison University Big Red held on for a 69-65 win over the Yeomen on Wednesday night at Philips Gym.

Senior post players Randy Ollie and Matt Walker did all they could to keep the Yeomen close throughout as Ollie poured in a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, and Walker notched his first-career double-double with 13 points while tying a career-best with 11 rebounds.

Junior guard Jack Poyle chipped in with 12 points to complete a trio of Yeomen in double figures.

Oberlin trailed 57-47 with 7:54 left to play, but four consecutive points from Eli Silverman-Lloyd had the margin down to six, 57-51, at the 4:36 mark. However, nearly ever time Oberlin threatened, the Big Red had a response.

A Darius White 3-pointer pushed the lead back out to nine, but layups by Ollie, Walker and Zach Meyers had Denison on its heels as the Yeomen made it a one-possession game at 60-57 with 1:28 remaining.

Following a timeout, David Meurer netted two of his 16 points as he drove inside with the shot clock dwindling down, but Walker responded with a 3-pointer of his own to make it a 62-60 game with 51 ticks left to expire.

Once again the Big Red would answer as Meurer found Jett Speelman on the nearside wing for a dagger 3-pointer that went towards his team-high 21 points and more importantly extended the Big Red lead.

After nearly 20 seconds had elapsed from the clock, Poyle rose up from beyond the arc and hit a clutch long ball to again shrink the lead down to two, 65-63, but just 15 seconds remained.

Forced to foul, the Yeomen sent White to the line where he calmly hit both free throws before Meyers went coast-to-cost for a layup with six seconds left. Again White was fouled and the senior from Columbus, Ohio, delivered another pair to secure the win.

With the win the Big Red moved to 12-8 overall and 7-6 in the NCAC. Having swept the season series with the Yeomen, they also control all potential tie-breaking scenarios for NCAC Tournament seeding. Oberlin fell back to 11-9 and 6-7 in league action.

The Yeomen trailed by just two 17-15 at the 11:37 mark of the first half, but would go down by as many as 15 before taking the large 13-shortcoming into the locker room.

Both teams were nearly identical shooting the ball as Denison finished at 42.6-percent (23-of-54), while the Yeomen checked in at 41.2-percent (28-of-68). However, the Big Red benefitted from a large discrepancy at the free throw line where they were 14-of-17 (82.4%), while Oberlin hoisted just six freebies with four makes.

The Yeomen will honor Ollie and Walker prior to Saturday's 3 p.m. tip-off against Wittenberg as part of the Senior Day celebrations.