Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team had an 11-point second-half lead but couldn't make it stand up as the visiting Penn State Altoona Lions rallied back for an 83-78 double overtime victory on Friday night at Philips Gym.
Dimitrije Radusinovic, who finished with a team-high 22 points, had a chance to win it at the end of regulation but his corner 3-point attempt rimmed out to force an extra session. Following the five-minute frame, the Yeomen had another promising chance to win it as
Yuuki Okubo was fouled with just over two seconds on the clock and was sent to the line for a one-and-one opportunity. Unfortunately, his attempt was off the mark, sending the game into double overtime tied at 75-75.
The Yeomen trailed by as many as five in the second overtime but had the ball down by three, 81-78, with 11 seconds to go but a backcourt violation all but ended their chances to extend the game.
Dorde Otasevic recorded his eighth double-double of the year as he ripped down a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 12 points.
Andrew Gannon added a career-best 15 points, while Okubo stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, and eight assists.
Oberlin led 19-11 with just over 11 minutes left in the first half but the Yeomen had no answers for the sharp-shooting Mason Bush as he cashed in 20 first-half points, hitting five threes along way with his fourth triple-hit ultimately tying the game at 29-29 with just under four minutes remaining on the clock. However, the Yeomen were ultimately able to carry 39-35 lead into the intermission.
A 3-pointer from Radusinovic put the Yeomen out in front 52-41 with 14 minutes left to expire but a 17-5 Lions' response run over the next 5:30 gave them their first lead of the night at 58-57. Oberlin would go back out in front, twice extending the margin out to six with a pair of Radusinovic free throws making it 66-60 with 3:39 on the clock but the Yeomen would go scoreless for the rest of regulation to allow Altoona to come back and force overtime.
Playing for the first time in 17 days, the Yeomen struggled with their shot, connecting at just a 34.1 percent (28-of-82) clip while going a subpar 8-of-13 (61.5%) at the charity stripe.
The loss dropped Oberlin back to 4-8 on the year while Altoona moved to 4-6.
Oberlin is back in action on January 4 at the College of Wooster. Tip-time is set for 7 p.m.
