Delaware, Ohio - The Oberlin College men's basketball team closed out the regular season, finishing on the wrong end of a 70-69 decision at Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon.

The Yeomen, who already tied the school record for regular season wins at 14, went into the game knowing that it had no bearing on its postseason fate despite holding just a one-game conference lead over OWU since Oberlin owned the tiebreaker over the Bishops. However, both teams concluded league play at 8-8. 

Oberlin had three players finish in double figures, led by junior Asaan Snipes-Rea who netted a career-high 18 points while he matched Milun Micanovic with a team-high five rebounds. Micanovic also posted 12 points himself as did Will Bousquette III. 

It was a low-scoring affair throughout the first half as the Yeomen led 24-21 after 20 minutes of play. 

However, the action would certainly pick up in the second half with both teams combining for 94 points in the session. Henry Hinkle, who scored a game-high 33 points, put together a personal 5-0 spurt that briefly gave the Bishops a 34-30 advantage early in the second stanza.

Oberlin answered back to retake the lead and eventually extended its cushion to seven on a Robert Millard triple-hit that made 47-40 with 10:41 left to play. Hinkle and the Bishops kept coming, however, as they rallied to go back out in front, 52-50, on one of Hinkle's five 3-pointers with just under six minutes to go. 

Andrew Gannon responded with a long-range strike of his own on the next Yeomen possession but an old-school 3-point play from Jesse Battle gave the Bishops the lead and they would never trail again. 

The Yeomen were down by just one with 2:10 to go but a back-breaking four-point play from Battle pushed the OWU edge back out to five, 66-61. However, Back-to-back buckets inside from Andrew Gannon and Snipes-Rea had the Yeomen within one with under a minute to play. Following another empty possession for the Bishops, the Yeomen had an opportunity to reclaim the lead but a floater from Snipes-Rea was off the mark. 

Despite all that, Oberlin still had one last shot with 4.4 seconds still to expire.. Needing a 3-pointer to tie the game, Oberlin was expecting a foul on the floor as that had been the strategy the Bishops were employing. The ball was quickly inbounded to Millard who chucked up a shot attempt from 35 feet hoping to draw a shooting foul - the only problem was the Bishops didn't foul him. Yuuki Okubo would put the rebound in with under a second left as it had no impact on the outcome. 

Oberlin finished the regular season at 14-11 overall, while the Bishops, who will be the six seed in the upcoming NCAC Tournament, ended 11-14.

The Yeomen, who secured the No. 5 seed, will head to fourth-seed Denison on Tuesday evening for an NCAC Quarterfinal rubber match. Oberlin fell to the Big Red 86-80 on its home floor all the way back on December 6, but got its revenge at Philips Gym on the final day of January, winning 75-68. Tip-time from Livingston Gymnasium is set for 5:30 p.m.
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