Oberlin, Ohio - The Oberlin College men's basketball team slipped past the visiting Allegheny College Gators 79-69 on Wednesday night at Philips Gym, getting the Yeomen off to their first 3-0 start since the 1979-80 season. 

Senior point guard Yuuki Okubo continued his torrid play en route to becoming the school's all-time assist leader as he dished out seven helpers to accompany his 16 points. Okubo now has 393 assists for his career, surpassing Christian Fioretti '20 who had 390.

Sophomore stalwart JJ Gray led Oberlin with 20 points, while senior Andrew Gannon scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half. Milun Micanovic made his first start of the year, ripping down a game-high 13 rebounds and contributing seven points in the win. 

A corner triple-hit from Gannon had the Yeomen up 13-5 just over five minutes into the game but the Yeomen failed to pull away as the Gators stayed within striking distance throughout the first half. Another finish from Gannon on the inside had the lead at 32-23 with just over four minutes remaining in the session but the Gators managed to crawl back within four at the intermission as Oberlin settled for just a 35-31 halftime advantage. 

After Oberlin went up seven early in the second half, the Gators caught fire while the Yeomen went cold as the visitors authored an 18-6 run over six minutes to claim a 52-47 lead at the 12:41 mark. 

The Yeomen would answer back with an 8-0 response run of their own that featured four points from Okubo that put the Yeomen back out front, 55-52. However, the Gators had one more charge in them as an Isaiah Portis 3-pointer had them in the lead, 59-56, at the 8:14 mark. 

Thankfully, the Yeomen were not deterred as a long-range strike from Zach Smith evened the count, and a turnaround jumper from Gray with just under six minutes to go put the Yeomen on top for good as they eventually built the cushion up to 10 in the final minutes.

Oberlin shot an even 50 percent (32-of-64) from the floor while outscoring the Gators 44-28 in the paint and winning the battle of the boards 45-31. 

The Yeomen will take to the road for the first time on Saturday, crossing state lines to take on the Yellow Jackets of Waynesburg at 2 p.m.