Box Score
Oberlin 88, Ohio Wesleyan 84
Junior guard Jaret Gerber (Worthington/Thomas Worthington) scored 8 points as Ohio Wesleyan wiped out a 14-point second-half deficit to send the game into overtime, but Oberlin took the lead in the extra session and withstood a Bishop rally to escape with a North Coast Athletic Conference win on Monday at Branch Rickey Arena.
The win snapped a string of 30 consecutive Ohio Wesleyan victories in the series. Oberlin had last defeated the Bishops on Feb. 19, 2002, when the Yeomen took a 56-49 decision in an NCAC tournament quarterfinal contest, a victory that was later forfeited to Ohio Wesleyan.
Oberlin had taken a 67-53 lead on a fast-break lay-in by Christian Fioretti with 10:15 left in regulation time.
The Bishops scored the next 9 points, getting a pair of free throws and a lay-in by junior post Grant Gossard (Westerville/Olentangy Orange) along with a 3-pointer and a lay-in from Gerber to narrow the gap to 67-62.
Andre Campbell hit a pair of free throws and Charles Tiedemann followed with a lay-in to push the Oberlin lead back to 9 points, and the Yeomen still led by a 72-67 count after Joshua Friedkin hit the first of 3 free throws with 3:08 to play.
Gerber split a pair of free throws at the 2:15 mark, then drove for a lay-in to make it 72-70 with 1:20 remaining. After Friedkin misfired on a 3-pointer, freshman wing Ethan Stanislawski (Massilon/Jackson) drove for a lay-in to tie the score at 72 with :34 to go.
With about 3 seconds' difference between the shot clock and the game clock, the Yeomen worked the clock, but Gerber knocked the ball free in the waning seconds of the shot clock and Ohio Wesleyan recovered the loose ball and called timeout with :02.4 left. Stanislawski got an open look at the Oberlin basket from about 25 feet out, but his shot rimmed out and the game went into overtime.
Freshman guard Curtis White (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) drove for a lay-in to open the overtime period, giving the Bishops their first lead of the game.
Friedkin would connect on 3-pointers on 3 consecutive Oberlin possessions to give the visitors an 81-76 lead with 2:00 to play, and the Yeomen would increase the margin to 87-77 with :33 left.
Freshman wing Gabe Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Wheaton St. Francis) converted a 3-point play with :26 remaining, and after Friedkin split a pair of free throws, White drove for a lay-in to make it 88-82 with :10 to play. On the ensuing inbounds play, Friedkin stepped on the end line to give the ball back to the Bishops, and a Gossard lay-in made it 88-84 with :07 left. Ohio Wesleyan then forced a 5-second violation to get the ball back once more, but a Johnson 3-pointer was off the mark and the Yeomen cleared the rebound.
Oberlin used a 10-1 run to break a 26-26 tie and take the lead during the first half, and the Yeomen added 10-2 run later in the half to stretch the margin into double figures. The visitors connected on 18 of their 28 shots (64 percent) during the first half in building a 46-35 lead at the break.
Gossard led the Bishops with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Stanislawski finished with 17 points, and freshman post Nick Carlson (Dublin/Coffman) scored 16 points.
Campbell and Friedkin scored 20 points apiece for Oberlin.
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