Springfield, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team scored 46 second-half points, but it wasn't enough as the home Tigers of Wittenberg staved off a furious Yeomen comeback to hang on for a 77-75 win on Monday night Pam Evans Smith Arena.
Oberlin used a diverse scoring attack as five players finished in double figures, led by
Dimitrije Radusinovic who had 19 points and earned his second double-double of the year with 10 rebounds. It was his sixth straight double-digit scoring performance and eighth on the season.
Anastasis Spyroglou, who has reached double figures in three of the four games he has played in, dropped in a career-best 16 points off the bench, while senior
Wolf Moser added in with 14 points in the loss.
Dorde Otasevic and
Darien Knowles rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points each.
The Yeomen trailed 63-51 with just eight over minutes remaining in the second half before methodically working their way back into the game. A traditional 3-point play by Radusinovic trimmed the gap down to 65-60 at the 3:52 mark but the Tigers did just enough to keep the Yeomen two possessions away till the closing moments.
A 3-pointer from Spyroglou trimmed the deficit down to three with six ticks left to expire, but two clutch free throws from Levi Boettcher would ice the game away for the Tigers and make Knowles ensuing triple-hit in the final seconds inconsequential to the outcome.
The Tigers had an early 12-point lead in the first half but a triple-hit from Knowles leveled the count at 29-29 with 3:25 to go. However, Wittenberg closed the session on with a 9-0 burst to carry a 38-29 cushion into the intermission.
The Tigers shot a blistering 55.1 percent (27-of-49) in the win, while Oberlin checked in at just 40.9 percent (27-of-66). Wittenberg hoisted 10 more free throw attempts on its home floor, cashing in 18 freebies on 24 attempts for a 75 percent clip. After a subpar performance at the stripe on Thursday, Oberlin bounced back by going 12-of-14 for an 85.7 percent success rate.
The loss marked the third straight for the Yeomen as they fell back to 4-7 overall and 2-4 in league play. The Tigers moved to 5-6 and 3-1 in the NCAC.
The Yeomen open a four-game homestand on Saturday against Denison University. Tip-time is set for 3 p.m.
