Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball: Balanced effort results in victory over Oberlin
Chris Luther scored 15 points as Denison held off Oberlin, 78-74 on Saturday.
Date: February 9, 2008
Location: GRANVILLE
Five players scored in double figures and the Denison Big Red withstood a furious comeback attempt by Oberlin College, eventually holding on for a 78-74 victory on Saturday afternoon at Livingston Gymnasium.
Leading by five with just under two minutes to play, Pat Sullivan (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) ripped away a rebound off a Chase Palmer missed 3-point try. Sullivan looked down the floor and hit a streaking Brian Elder (Granville, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) who converted the fast break putting Denison on top 68-61 with 1:44 to play.
After a Mike Loll 3-pointer cut the Denison lead to four, Sullivan would go on to convert a pair of free throws, putting Denison back up six with 1:00 remaining. After trading baskets and free throws over the next 40 seconds, Oberlin's Matthew Godwin made things interesting when he knocked down a 3-pointer to get the Yeomen within two points with 17 seconds to play. On the ensuing inbounds play Oberlin players rushed to foul Denison's Chris Eberst (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes), but before they could commit the foul and send Eberst to the line, the senior guard unloaded a deep pass to Elder who converted his third breakaway layup over the final two minutes of regulation, which effectively iced the victory for the Big Red.
Denison's balanced attack was led by Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) and Larry Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) who finished with 15 apiece. Sullivan turned in an outstanding performance from his point guard position, scoring 14 points, adding six assists and four rebounds while not committing a turnover in 34 minutes of action. Elder also finished with 14 points off a 5-for-7 shooting performance while playing just 17 minutes. The final player to crack double-digits was sophomore Caleb McFerren (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville) who scored 10 points.
Denison (2-19, 2-10 NCAC) shot a season-high 54 percent from the field (23-for-43) and knocked down 10, 3-point field goals, their most treys in a game since Feb. 18, 2006. Their ball movement was equally impressive and directly correlated to their hot-shooting afternoon. Twenty of their 23 field goals had assists attached.
Oberlin (4-17, 3-9 NCAC) was led by Mike Loll's 21-point, 10 rebounds, four assist effort. The junior was 8-for-13 from the field and hit 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Godwin and freshman Gian Chiu both added 10 points for the Yeomen.
The Big Red will be back in action on Wednesday (Feb. 13) when they host The College of Wooster at 7:30 p.m.
See the full game statistics