Wooster, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team opened the 2017-18 season on Wednesday night a Timken Gymnasium, falling 70-64 to The College of Wooster Fighting Scots.
 
Sophomore point guard Joshua Friedkin poured in a career-high 23 points as he hit on six triples-tries in the setback. Classmate Andre Campbell, who had a team-high seven rebounds, added 14 of his 17 points in the first half, while fellow second-year Christian Fioretti added nine points in his fourth-career start.
 
The Yeomen led for most of the second half, but Wooster broke open a 58-58 tie in the final 3:38 of the game with a 12-6 run to complete the comeback.  
 
Oberlin needed less than four minutes to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and ultimately took its first lead of the game at 35-34 on a deep 3-pointer from Friedkin at the 16:19 mark.
 
An old-fashioned 3-point-play by Charles Tiedemann and a running layup from Nile Godfrey had the Yeomen up five, 45-40, with under 13 minutes left to play.
 
With less than 10 minutes to go, another triple-hit by Friedkin gave Oberlin its largest lead of the game at 54-47, but just over three minutes later the Scots would get back to even on a long-distance make by Blair Blake to even the score at 57-57.
 
It would remain nip-and-tuck down the stretch as no more than three points would separate the two foes until just 20 seconds were left on the clock.
 
A 3-pointer from Fioretti with 2:49 left remaining on the clock put Oberlin out in front for the final time at 61-60. After Wooster regained the lead, a traditional 3-point play by Campbell evened the count at 64-all with 100 seconds to go, but the Yeomen would go scoreless the rest of the way, misfiring on four threes in the final minute.
 
In the opening half, the Yeomen and Scots were even at 7-7 four minutes into the game, but Wooster would use a 15-3 run to grab a 22-10 advantage midway through the opening half.
 
In the final minutes of the opening stanza, Oberlin trailed 30-18, but the Yeomen closed the half strong with a mini 7-2 spurt to cut the deficit down to just seven, 32-25, at the intermission. The burst featured a 3-ball from the nearside wing by Friedkin and four points from Campbell – including a buzzer-beating tip-in.
 
Oberlin, which outscored Wooster 39-38 in the second half, shot 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the floor, which included a 9-of-28 (32.1%) showing from beyond the arc. The Scots, who had four starters in double figures, were led by Reece Dupler's 16 points. As a team, they shot 39.4 percent (26-of-66).
 
Oberlin is back in action on Friday as it plays host to Franciscan University at 7:30 p.m.