Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team gutted out a 78-73 win over the visiting Kenyon College Lords on Wednesday night at Philips Gym.
 
Four Yeomen starters finished in double figures with Isaac Finestone and Andre Campbell leading the way with 16 points and six rebounds each. Christian Fioretti added 13 points to accompany his six assists, while Charles Tiedemann added 11 points on an efficient 4-of-5 shooting.
 
It was a lackluster first half for the Yeomen offensively but they managed to stay within striking distance with a strong finish to the session. The Yeomen were down by eight with less than a minute to go, but a pair of Andre Campbell free throws were followed with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Wolf Moser make it a 31-28 Lords' lead at the intermission.
 
Kenyon would start the second half hot, building its advantage out to 12, 43-31, with 15:29 left to play in the game. However, from that point on it was like a switch went off for the Yeomen as they hit 15 of their final 22 shots from the floor and all 11 of their free throws to complete the comeback.
 
Oberlin ripped off a 16-0 run over the next five minutes that featured seven points from Dorde Otasevic and a go-ahead 3-pointer from Joshua Friedkin as the Yeomen grabbed a 47-43 advantage at the 11:38 mark.
 
The Yeomen lead would twice stretch out to nine with the second time coming off a pick-and-roll finish from Tiedemann that made it 63-54 at the seven-minute mark. However, the Lords wouldn't go away quietly as they fought back within three points on multiple occasions.
 
A pair of Kenyon charity tosses had the lead down to 74-71 with 43 ticks left to expire, but a tough bucket on the right block by Campbell made it a two-score game. After another set of free throws by the Lords, disaster nearly happened for the Yeomen as the ensuing inbounds pass was stolen but Kenyon could not convert and Campbell would ultimately go to the line to ice the game away.
 
After shooting just 34.5 percent (10-of-29) in the first half, Oberlin was an impressive 16-of-26 (61.5%) in the second half en route to finishing the game with a 47.3 percent (26-of-55) clip. While the Lords shot just 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the floor, they were an impressive 23-of-24 (95.8%) at the free-throw line. However, the Yeomen also missed just one of the 19 freebies they hoisted for a 94.7 percent success rate.
 
The win ran the Yeomen's record to 11-7 overall and 5-6 in the NCAC. Kenyon, which has now lost eight of nine, dropped back to 6-12 and 3-8 in league play.
 
Oberlin returns to action on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at DePauw University.