Gambier, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team secured its first conference win of the season, outlasting the Kenyon College Owls 58-57 on Wednesday night at Tomsich Arena.
Oberlin used a diverse offensive attack with six different players scoring seven or more points in the win.
Andrew Gannon led the way with 13 points, while
Anastasis Spyroglou recorded his first-career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Yuuki Okubo chipped in 10 points on an efficient 4-of-7 shooting.
Cole Otley, who scored all seven of his points in the first half, cashed in a 3-pointer with just over 11 minutes left in the opening session to give the Yeomen an 18-8 advantage. Otley would later deliver inside to swell the score to 23-10, marking the Yeomen's biggest lead of the night.
Kenyon would fight back with a 7-0 spurt to shrink the margin down to just six, but a Spyroglou triple-hit would halt the run at the 5:17 mark. For the remainder of the half, the two foes would essentially trade buckets as Oberlin carried a 34-26 cushion into the break.
The Owls wouldn't go away in the second half as they scratched and clawed their way back into the game throughout the second half. Four consecutive points from Gefen Bar-Cohen shrunk the gap down to just two, 46-44, with 9:42 left to play.
An old-school 3-point play by Gannon pushed the Yeomen differential back out to five but the Owls would eventually level the count at 52-52 on Kamal Aubakirov's 3-pointer with 2:46 to go.
Oberlin would get a pair of clutch free throws from Okubo to go back out in front and Gannon would later follow with a massive offensive rebound that led to a put-back layup for
Will Bousquette III to increase the lead to four with 93 ticks still to expire.
Bar-Cohen would slither his way to the rim on the ensuing Kenyon possession to cut it right back to two and Oberlin would come up empty on its next trip to give Kenyon a chance to tie or take the lead in the closing seconds. Thankfully, Miles Versa's layup attempt was off the mark and Gannon secured the rebound before sealing the victory with two free throws – thus making Anthony Testa's buzzer-beating three a moot point.
Oberlin shot just 36.1 percent (22-of-61), while the Owls finished slightly worse at 34.8 with 23 makes on 66 attempts. It was struggle for both sides from distance as they combined to go 5-of-45 (11.1%) from beyond the arc. The Yeomen did win the battle of the boards 48-39.
The victory snapped a five-game skid for the Yeomen as they moved to 5-12 on the year and 1-7 in the NCAC. Kenyon fell to 7-10 and 0-8 in league play.
The Yeomen will look to make it two in row when the Wabash College Little Giants come to town on Saturday for a 2 p.m. matinee.
