Oberlin, Ohio - The Oberlin College men's basketball held off a furious second-half charge from the visiting Washington & Jefferson University Presidents, earning the Air National Guard Tip-off Classic Championship with a 64-63 victory.
Oberlin led 51-31 with just over 16 minutes to play, but The Presidents orchestrated a 22-4 run over the next nine minutes to shrink the cushion all the way down two at 55-53 with 7:22 left on the clock.
It was a fight to finish from there as Oberlin got the margin back up to seven with 4:47 remaining but W&J answered back with an 8-0 response run, claiming its first lead of the game on an Alex Acosta layup with under a minute to play.
Sophomore
JJ Gray would put Oberlin back out in front for good with a turnaround jumper in the paint with half a minute to play. The ensuing Presidents' possession resulted in a missed shot and a big rebound by
Milun Micanovic, who was fouled with 2.5 seconds still to expire. He would miss the front end of a one-and-one, allowing a last-second half-court heave that thankfully ended wide of target to preserve the win.
Senior point guard
Yuuki Okubo led the way with 22 points, six assists, and two steals. Classmate
Andrew Gannon added 13 points, while Gray finished with 12 points to accompany his six rebounds.
Oberlin started the game up 7-0 and would grab its first double-digit lead on a
Will Bousquette III jumper at the 5:04 mark of the opening half to make it a 33-21 Yeomen advantage before ultimately carrying a 39-27 lead into the intermission.
Following the restart it appeared that the Yeomen were going to run away with a victory, claiming a 20-point lead on a
Zach Smith triple-hit before the Presidents came roaring back to set up the thrilling finish.
The Yeomen shot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the floor, while the Presidents finished at 42.6 percent (26-of-61), which included a 3-of-22 showing from beyond the arc.
Oberlin moved to 2-0 for first time since the 2021-22 season and will return to action on Wednesday night when Allegheny comes to town for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
