Oberlin, Ohio - Senior
Jack Poyle became the 24th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career points, but it was enough as the visiting Wittenberg University Tigers outlasted the Yeomen, 65-62, on Wednesday night at Philips Gym.
Poyle scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half and now has 1,007 for his career. His 3-pointer at the 11:36 mark of the opening frame put him over the plateau and at the time cut the Tigers' lead down to 17-11.
Sophomore
Eli Silverman-Lloyd finished with a team-high 14 points to go along with a career-best nine boards. Senior
Scott Miller cashed in three 3-pointers off the bench as he added nine points in the setback.
The Yeomen never led in the game, but they would trail by no more than eight at any point in the second half. In the closing moments a strong left-handed finish in the lane by Poyle had the deficit down to two at 64-62 with 69 seconds remaining in the game.
Following a stop on the defensive end, Oberlin had plenty of time to get a good shot to tie or take the lead, but a rushed 3-point attempt and a turnover gave the ball back to the Tigers. A foul would send Chad Roy to line where he would split the pair to give the Yeomen life.
Taking over with 17 ticks left, Oberlin got the ball into the hands of Silverman-Lloyd who fired off a would-be game-tying three at the buzzer only to see the ball go halfway down before rattling out.
Oberlin trailed 29-20 with 4:44 left in the first half, but would close the frame on an 11-4 run that featured a four-point play from Poyle to make it a 33-31 Tigers' lead at the intermission.
In the second session a jumper in the paint from
Zach Meyers had the Yeomen to within one, 51-50, with 8:41 left to play, but the Tigers responded by pushing the lead back out to six and held on down to the stretch to escape town with the win.
Cody Phillippi led Wittenberg with a game-high 18 points, helping his team move to 9-2 overall and 3-2 in the NCAC. Oberlin dropped back to 1-10 and 0-4 in league action.
Shooting was nearly identical for both sides as Oberlin checked in at 44.4 percent (20-of-45), while the Tigers finished 19-of-42 for a 45.2 percent success rate. However, Wittenberg benefited from a large discrepancy at the free throw line - making 22-of-31 (71%) of its attempts. The Yeomen went to the line just 13 times - 12 coming in the second half. They made 12 of their 13 attempts for a 92.3 percent clip.
The Tigers also forced the Yeomen to turn it over 18 times, which is their second highest total of the season. Those miscues resulted into 23 points for the visitors.
Oberlin will look to get back on track when it plays host to Wabash College on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Â