University Heights, Ohio – Earning the No. 6 seed for the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, the Oberlin College men's basketball team faced No. 3 John Carroll in the First Round on Tuesday evening. Despite outshooting the home team in the second half, the Yeomen fell to the Blue Streaks 77-73. Oberlin finishes the season 13-13 overall and 6-10 in league action.
JJ Gray led the offensive front, registering 19 points, seven assists, and three rebounds. Zach Smith concluded his career tallying 16 points and seven rebounds. Rob Magner and Augustus Donohue rounded out the double-digit scorers, adding 11 and 10 points, respectively.
On the boards, Sam Kamenko and Milun Micanovic combined for 13 rebounds with an additional 15 points, while Kamenko added a pair of blocks.
Smith got the Crimson and Gold off to a fiery start, knocking down a three-pointer to get on the board first. Following a pair of John Carroll free throws, a jumper from Liam Gray and a triple from Magner extended Oberlin's edge to six. The home team battled their way to claim their first lead just over the midpoint of the frame.
Tied at 16-16, JCU recorded the next seven points in just over a minute, allowing the Blue Streaks to pull away. Five Yeomen contributed to the scoring action to keep Oberlin within striking distance, entering the halftime break with a nine-point deficit.
Trailing by 10, the Yeomen notched six straight points to cut the margin to four just minutes into the second period. Back-to-back three-pointers from J. Gray and Kamenko tied John Carroll 46-46 at 15:12 as both teams kept each other close. Tied again at 56-56, Oberlin maintained a slight edge over the hosts until a tip-in from JCU clinched the narrow lead.
J. Gray added back-to-back jumpers to battle the Blue Streaks for the advantage. Trailing by four with just over two minutes in the game, Kamenko delivered a shot from behind the arc at 1:07, hoping to launch a final Yeomen attack.
Following a timeout, John Carroll responded with their own triple with 0:36 until time expired. Oberlin pushed to produce another three-pointer but was unable to connect, falling to the No. 3 seed.
"It's a tough way to lose, but I just can't help being so proud of this group. They battled through adversity all year to get to a point where they were playing championship-caliber basketball at the end of the year," Head Coach Shiva Senthil adds. "To our seniors, they changed the program. They believed in us when we were a six-win team and graduated the winningest class in program history. They changed the standard for what success is at Oberlin and the program is in a better place because of it. Even though tonight didn't end the way we hoped, the future is so bright because of what these 20 amazing young men did this season."
The 2026 graduating class concludes their career as the winningest class in program history, recording 48 wins after posting eight in their first season. Bowing out of the NCAC Tournament, Oberlin will take a well-deserved break before looking ahead to the 2026-27 campaign. John Carroll will advance to the semifinals, where they will play No. 2 DePauw at the final site in Granville, Ohio.
Keep up with the
Crimson and Gold on
Instagram,
Facebook, and
TikTok, and watch every home game on the
Oberlin Sports Network online or on Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV.
