Oberlin, Ohio - JJ Gray and Yuuki Okubo combined for 48 points but it wasn't enough as the Oberlin College men's basketball team finished on the wrong end of a 76-70 scoreline against the visiting Wabash College Little Giants on Saturday afternoon at Philips Gym. 

The final count marked the fifth straight time the deciding margin was within two scores between the Yeomen and Little Giants and all but one of those has gone in favor of Wabash. 

Gray led all scorers with a career-high 27 points on 8-of-18 shooting. The rookie from Huntington Beach, California, also ripped down a career - and game-high eight rebounds while going 9-of-10 at the charity stripe. Okubo finished with a career-best 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting to accompany his season-high seven assists. 

Oberlin led 9-7 less than four minutes into the game, but a 7-0 Wabash burst gave them a 14-9 edge at the 13:11 mark. The Yeomen later trailed 26-16 with over just over seven minutes left in the opening session, but the Oberlin defense would step up and limit the visitors to just three points the rest of the way, closing the half on a 13-3 run to level the count at 29-29 at the intermission. The spurt featured six points from Gray and a big triple-hit from Will Bousquette III.

After Wabash scored the first bucket of the second half, the two teams would essentially trade scores for the first seven minutes of the period as Oberlin tied it four different times before briefly going out in front, 42-40, on an Okubo jumper at the 13:01 mark. 

An 8-0 Little Giants response run increased the visitors' lead out to 48-42, and an Ahomi Jones 3-pointer would force an Oberlin timeout with 6:51 still to expire as the lead swelled to 59-51. 

Rich Brooks, who led Wabash with 20 points off the bench, made it a 69-57 game with 3:04 to go and the Yeomen continued to fight to the bitter end but the deficit was too big to overcome. A Zach Smith 3-pointer had the lead down to 72-68 with 12 ticks to go but Brooks would cash in a pair of free throws to help ice the game away for Wabash. 

The Yeomen shot 44.1 (26-of-59) from the field, but went just 4-of-12 (33.3%) from distance. Wabash took advantage of its long-range marksmanship, cashing in 13-of-31 triple-tries for a 41.9 percent clip. Overall, they ended at 43.1 (25-of-58) shooting. However, OC was able to stay close by making 14-of-16 (87.5%) free throws while Wabash deposited just 13 of the 23 freebies it hoisted for a 56.5 percent success rate. 

The loss dropped Oberlin back to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the NCAC while the Little Giants moved to 6-2 and 2-0 in league play.

The Yeomen are back in action on Wednesday night at Denison University. Tip-time is set for 7 p.m.