Box Score
Kenyon 79, Ohio Wesleyan 77

Freshman guard Curtis White (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) hit a jumper to bring Ohio Wesleyan within a single point, but Kenyon answered with a 3-pointer and withstood a final possession to hang on for a North Coast Athletic Conference win over Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday in Gambier.

The loss was Ohio Wesleyan's first to Kenyon since Nov. 18, 2000, when the Lords took a 75-60 decision at Mount St. Joseph, and snapped a 30-game Ohio Wesleyan winning streak in the series.

The Bishops had broken a 63-63 tie with a dunk by junior post Grant Gossard (Westerville/Olentangy Orange) with 6:36 left in regulation time, but Kenyon answered with 3-pointers by Kamal Aubakirov and Matt Shifrin to take a 69-65 lead.

Ohio Wesleyan closed to within a single point on 3 different occasions, the last on White's jumper from the lane with :39 remaining.

Shifrin closed out Kenyon's ensuing possession with a 3-pointer, but freshman wing Ethan Stanislawski (Massilon/Jackson) made it a 2-point game with a jumper from the lane with :02 to play.

Ohio Wesleyan had a foul to give, and a pair of fouls put Kenyon's Carter Powell on the free throw line with :01 remaining.  The strategy worked when Powell missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Kenyon's Elijah Davis came up with a steal to seal the win.

The Bishops took off on an 11-0 run midway through the first half, collecting 3-pointers from freshman post Nick Carlson (Dublin/Coffman), White, and Stanislawski followed by a White fast-break lay-in that opened up a 34-21 lead with 5:29 left in the first half.

Kenyon countered with a 12-0 rally that saw Powell convert a 3-point play, Shifrin connect on a pair of 3-pointers, and Alex Cate add a 3-pointer to bring the hosts within 34-33 at the 2:16 mark.

Ohio Wesleyan assembled a 12-0 run of its own during the second half, wiping out a 49-45 deficit with the help of 3-pointers by Stanislawski and junior guard Tristin Tillman (Bellefontaine), only to see Kenyon come back with a pair of Cate 3-pointers to even the score at 61.

Freshman wing Gabe Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Wheaton St. Francis) led the Bishops with 22 points.  Stanislawski had 19 points, and Gossard finished with 12 points and a team-high 8 rebounds.

Shifrin had 21 points for Kenyon, which connected on 15 of 25 shots (60 percent) from 3-point range during the contest.

Box Score