Springfield, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team fell to the No. 7 ranked Tigers of Wittenberg, 79-66, on Saturday afternoon at Pam Evans Smith Arena.
 
It was a tale of two halves for the Yeomen as they outscored the Tigers in the second session, 34-32. However, it wasn't enough to overcome the 15-point deficit they faced at the intermission.
 
Four of Oberlin's five starters finished in double figures with the junior backcourt duo of Christian Fioretti and Joshua Friedkin leading the charge. Fioretti paced the attack with a team-high 16 points to accompany his seven rebounds while Friedkin posted 15 points, dialing in on three triple-tries along the way.
 
Andre Campbell earned a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while the Yeomen's lone senior Eli Silverman-Lloyd netted 10 points in the setback.
 
The game was nip and tuck in the early going as the Tigers were clinging to a 9-8 edge but would increase the margin with a 12-3 burst to claim a 21-11 advantage with just over 11 minutes left in the opening half. A layup from Campbell and three from Friedkin quickly got the Yeomen back within five but the Tigers answered right back with a 10-0 response run to balloon their lead out to 31-16.
 
Oberlin continued to fight but failed to make any headway on the scoreboard as the Tigers carried a 47-32 lead into the locker room.
 
In the second half, the Yeomen were hoping for a sustained run to cut into the deficit but it just never materialized as Wittenberg failed to give an inch. Fioretti hit two of his seven charity tosses to bridge the gap down to 11 at 72-61 but just 2:30 remained on the clock to prevent any chance of a comeback bid.
 
The Yeomen shot 34.5 percent (20-of-58) in the loss, while the Tigers finished at a 44.9 percent (22-of-49) clip. Wittenberg had a 40-28 advantage on the glass and outscored Oberlin 26-16 in the paint. However, Oberlin took excellent care of the basketball with just six turnovers and translated 11 Tiger miscues into 18 points.
 
The loss dropped Oberlin back to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC. The Tigers moved to 5-1 and 1-0 in league play.
 
The Yeomen will have their first home game of the season on Wednesday night when they welcome Kenyon College to Philips Gym. Tip-time is set for 6 p.m.