Hiram, Ohio - First-year
JJ Gray scored a career-high 28 points to help lift the Oberlin College men's basketball team to a hard-fought, 79-69, road win at Hiram College on Saturday afternoon.
Gray finished 9-of-18 from the field and went 9-of-11 at the charity stripe to go along with his five rebounds and four assists. Fellow rookie
Robert Millard was the only other Yeoman in double figures as he netted 11 points while going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Yuuki Okubo had eight points and eight assists, while
Milun Micanovic finished with seven points to accompany his team-high eight rebounds.
A pair of 3-pointers from
Will Bousquette III and Millard gave Oberlin an early 10-6 edge. Gray's lone triple-hit of the game had the Yeomen out in front 19-11 at the 11:51 mark. Oberlin was leading 25-17 with 7:31 left on the first-half clock but a quick 14-5 Hiram burst over the next three and half minutes put them ahead 31-30. The two foes would ultimately head into the intermission deadlocked at 35-35.
Oberlin would grab the early advantage following the restart, going up 45-39 on a
Dimitrije Radusinovic three-ball just under five minutes into the second half. The Yeomen advantage would later swell to 10, 53-43, on an
Asaan Snipes-Rea finish inside but the Terriers would not go away quietly.
After erasing the double-digit deficit, Dushawn Hill's jumper gave the home side the lead at 63-62 with 4:11 left to play. However, Gray would respond with a pair of free throws on the Yeomen's next trip down the floor and they would never trail again but it certainly would come without any nerves.
Trent Jakacki, who leads the conference in scoring, racked up 37 points in the loss with two of those tallies coming at the stripe that once again had Hiram within one at 68-67 with 2:33 remaining. Thankfully, Gray would respond with a jumper in the paint and then Hiram would have three straight empty possessions, allowing the Yeomen to pull away down the stretch to secure the victory. In total, there were seven lead changes and seven times in the game.
The victory ran the Yeomen's record to 12-9 overall and an even 6-6 in the NCAC. Hiram fell back to 2-19 and 0-12 in league play.
Oberlin will look for its fourth straight win on Wednesday at the College of Wooster. Tip-time is set for 7:30 p.m.
