Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball: Stout Defense Leads Lords Past Denison
Date: January 16, 2008
Location: GRANVILLE
The iron may have been a bit unkind to both the Denison Big Red and the Kenyon Lords on Wednesday night but there was little shortage of defense at Livingston Gymnasium this evening.
The Lords tenaciously guarded the Big Red for 40 minutes and held off a strong push by the home team, eventually prevailing 60-47.
Denison trailed by six at halftime and were held to just 21 points by the Lords. Senior post Brian Elder (Granville, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) gave DU a lift off the bench in the first half, scoring eight points in 10 minutes off 3-of-4 shooting.
In the second half Kenyon pushed their lead out to 11 points with 13:49 to play but over the next five minutes Denison would go on a 13-3 run to cut the Lords' lead down to just one. With 8:03 remaining Chris Luther gobbled up an offensive rebounds off an Elder 3-point miss and stuck the put-back to get within three. A turnover by Kenyon's Dave Knapke gave the ball back to the Big Red and sophomore guard Caleb McFerren converted a slashing baseline drive to cut the score to 40-39.
With 5:31 left to play and Kenyon leading by four, Chris Yorlano drilled a 3-pointer from the left elbow extending the lead to seven. Denison would convert just two field goals over the final 7:34 as the Lords closed the game on a 21-4 run.
Elder led Denison with 10 points. Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood), Jeremy Stuhlfauth (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) and Caleb McFerren (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville) all finished with eight points. Stuhlfauth was the leading rebounder with eight.
Pacing the Lords was Knapke's 18 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes. Bryan Yelvington chipped in 10 points and Kodey Haddox led the team in assists with five.
Denison outrebounded Kenyon 35-25 but comitted 21 turnovers which resulted 24 points for the Lords. Kenyon connected on 48 percent of their field goal tries while DU hit on 38 percent from the field.
Denison will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 19) when they host Hiram College at 4 p.m.