Box Score

Granville, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team led for the majority of the game, unfortunately it was not on top when the final horn went off as Denison University came-from-behind to upend the Yeomen 76-69 on Wednesday night.

Sophomore Marcus Johnson led the Oberlin scoring attack with 19 points, while freshman Andrew Fox added a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Josh Merritt also contributed 12 points in the loss.

“This is a game we need to learn from and grow as a team,” Head Coach Isaiah Cavaco said. “We need to get that killer instinct and finish off teams when we have them down.”

The Yeomen claimed a 43-33 advantage within the first two minutes of the second half, but the Big Red would not go away quietly as they battled back to eventually take a 54-53 lead with just over eight minutes left to play. After a few more lead changes, Denison would build its cushion to seven, 66-59, with 2:16 remaining and the Yeomen would get no closer than three points the rest of the way as the Big Red went 10-of-11 at the free throw line in the closing minutes.

Oberlin (4-8, 0-3 NCAC) led nearly the entire first half and a 17-7 run gave them a 26-15 advantage with 5:30 left in the session, but Denison fought back to get within four, 36-32, at the break.

Denison (3-9,3-0 NCAC) made Oberlin pay for every mistake, cashing in 22 points off of 20 Yeomen turnovers. On the flipside, OC created just eight turnovers, which led to just seven points.

The Yeomen out-shot Denison 51.1-percent (23-of-45) to 35-percent (21-of-60).

It was also tightly-called contest throughout as the Big Red made 37 trips to the free throw line – making 26 for a 70.3-percent success rate. The Yeomen hoisted 25 charity tosses – converting 18 for 72-percent.

Oberlin will look to get back on track on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Wittenberg for a 4 p.m. tip.