Oberlin, Ohio - The Oberlin College men's basketball team gave the visiting Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops all they could handle but in the end it wasn't enough as OWU eked out a 74-69 victory over the Yeomen on Saturday afternoon at Philips Gym.
Four Yeomen finished in double figures in the loss. Senior
Dorde Otasevic led the way with 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Fellow countryman
Dimitrije Radusinovic finished with 14 points and matched Otasevic with six boards, while
Will Bousquette III chipped in 12 to accompany his career-best seven rebounds.
Yuuki Okubo, who dished out eight assists, rounded out the double-digit performers with 10 points on an efficient 3-of-5 shooting
The Yeomen jumped out to an 8-0 lead to force longtime OWU head coach Mike DeWitt to burn an early timeout. Oberlin led 12-3 less than five minutes into the game but the Bishops would settle in and methodically work their way back into the game, grabbing their first lead at 17-16 at the 10:19 mark. However, Oberlin would quickly go back out in front and never trail again in the half.
An
Asaan Snipes-Rea layup with 4:32 left in the half gave Oberlin a 27-21 cushion but the Yeomen ultimately settled for a 33-29 lead at the intermission.
Early in the second half, a
Andrew Gannon long-range connection extended the Yeomen advantage out to 43-36 but the Bishops wouldn't go away, rallying to tie the game at 45 and 47 before grabbing a 49-47 lead on a Jack Clement jumper with 11:23 left to expire.
No more than four points would separate the two foes over the next eight minutes of gameplay until a dagger triple-hit from Clement pushed the OWU lead out to 68-61 with 2:49 on the clock.
A pair of 3-pointers from Otasevic down the stretch got Oberlin to within three with 18 ticks left but Clement would deposit a couple of free throws in the closing moments to finish off the victory.
The Yeomen, who led the game for 26:49, also outscored the Bishops 46-16 in the paint. Overall, the game featured eight ties and seven lead changes.
Oberlin will look to snap its five-game slide on Wednesday night at Kenyon College. Tip-time is set for 8 p.m.
