Cleveland, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team concluded the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 72-65 victory over the Case Western Reserve Spartans on Thursday morning at Horsburgh Gymnasium.
 
Oberlin used a balanced scoring attack with three starters finishing in double figures. Senior Eli Silverman-Lloyd led the charge with 19 points, while Christian Fioretti stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points while leading the team with seven rebounds and four assists. Junior Andre Campbell scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
 
The Yeomen trailed 12-6 five minutes into the contest but four straight points from Silverman-Lloyd, including a coast-to-cost layup cut the deficit down to just a deuce before an underhand scoop shot from Wolf Moser tied it at 12-12 at the 12:44 mark.
 
Oberlin's first lead of the game would come just over a minute later on a slashing layup from Fioretti to give the Yeomen a 15-14 edge. One of two first-half triple-hits from Silverman-Lloyd extended the Oberlin advantage out to 34-25 with 3:46 left to play and Oberlin would ultimately carry a 39-29 lead into the intermission.
 
The second half started with a Spartan surge that cut the deficit down to five at 43-38 at the 16:19 mark. At the midway point of the second half, a traditional 3-point play by Joshua Friedkin and a 15-foot jumper from Campbell pushed the Yeomen lead back out to 58-51. However, an 8-0 Spartan response run gave them their first lead of the game since the 9:56 mark of the first half.
 
The Yeomen would reclaim the lead on four straight points from Silverman-Lloyd to make it 62-61 with 5:49 left to play and they would never relinquish the lead the rest of the way. The Spartans trailed 64-63 with just under five minutes to go but the Yeomen defense tightened up down the stretch, holding them to just two points for the remainder of the game.
 
Oberlin shot an impressive 49.1 percent (28-of-57) from the floor but allowed the Spartans to stay close with an uncharacteristic 55 percent (11-of-20) shooting performance at the charity stripe. The Spartans finished at a 35.4 percent (23-of-65) clip.
 
The win was just the third in the 13-game series history between the two foes since the 2000-01 season and first since January 7, 2009 when the Yeomen prevailed 75-62. Both teams are now 7-4 on the year.
 
Oberlin's busy stretch continues on Saturday afternoon as it welcomes the 21^st-ranked Little Giants of Wabash College to Philips Gym. Tip-time is set for 2 p.m.