Delaware, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team put forth a strong effort, but in the end the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops earned a 78-71 win over the Yeomen on Saturday afternoon at Branch Rickey Arena.
 
The Yeomen held the normally sharp-shooting Bishops in-check in the first half, but the OWU offense came to life in the second session to top the Yeomen. After shooting 37.5 percent (12-of-32) over the first frame – which included a 3-of-15 (20%) showing from beyond the arc – the Bishops shot nearly 60 percent (16-of-27) in the second half as they cashed in 7-of-13 (53.8%) triple-tries.
 
OWU led 31-30 at the half and ultimately built up a 61-48 advantage with 5:34 left to play in the game. However, Oberlin would not go away without a fight. A layup from Andre Campbell was followed with a fastbreak finish from Christian Fioretti to put the shortcoming back down to nine.
 
A response triple-hit from Seth Clark made the comeback bid even tougher, but a 9-2 Oberlin answer that featured four points from Campbell and a 3-pointer from Evan Suppa had the deficit down to 66-61 with 2:11 left on the clock.
 
OWU extended its cushion back out to nine, 72-63, on a dagger three-ball from Jake Hecker with 62 seconds left. Eli Silverman-Lloyd and Suppa each hit threes, and Campbell had a baseline jumper to keep the slim hopes alive, but the Bishops hit six of eight charity tosses down the stretch to preserve the win.
 
Campbell continued to shine for the Yeomen as he poured in a career-high 29 points in just 26 minutes of work. The second-year standout from San Francisco, California, was 10-of-15 from the floor and went 9-of-10 at the free throw line to accompany his game-high nine rebounds. Silverman-Lloyd added 13 points, while Suppa finished with a career-high 11.
 
Neither team shot for a high percentage in the first half as Oberlin was just 9-of-30 for a 30-percent clip. Like OWU, the Yeomen were much improved in the second half, going 16-of-29 for a 55.2 percent success rate.
 
Midway through the opening session, the Bishops were clinging to a 21-18 lead. Later in the frame, a corner three from Joshua Friedkin off an in-bounds play was followed with two charity tosses from Campbell to make it a 27-26 OWU edge at the 4:30 mark. No more than three points would separate the two foes until the halftime horn.
 
Oberlin, which never led in the game, stayed within striking distance, but the Bishops methodically increased their lead throughout the second half as back-to-back 3-pointers from Jarett Gerber gave them their first double-digit cushion of the afternoon with under six minutes to go and proved to be too much for the Yeomen to overcome.

OWU outscored Oberlin 34-26 in the paint and had a 23-9 advantage in bench points. However, the Yeomen did win the battle of the boards, 38-31.
 
Oberlin dropped back to 9-10 overall and 3-9 in the NCAC. OWU, which recently fell out of the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, is now 14-5 and 9-3 in league action.
 
The Yeomen will look to bounce back on Wednesday night as it welcomes the College of Wooster to town for an 8 p.m. showdown.