In what looked like a lost season just a week ago, the Oberlin College men’s basketball team ripped off two consecutive conference road victories last week that briefly opened the door for a berth in the playoffs. Unfortunately, a loss to Allegheny on Wednesday foiled their late season run with one game still remaining.
To begin their streak, the Yeomen first knocked off Denison University last week. Then on Saturday, Oberlin escaped Hiram College with a hard fought 69-66 victory.

The game was a battle that came down to the wire, characteristic of many of the Yeomen games this season. Neither team held a lead of more than six points. But Oberlin battled to the end and came out on top with the victory. Leading the way for Oberlin was senior Chris Ikpoh with a game high 26 points and eight rebounds. Senior Bosko Tomasevic added 17 points and seven rebounds. The two free throws of senior Cameron Leveret iced the game with thirty seconds remaining.

On Wednesday, Oberlin attempted to win three consecutive games for the first time this season. In the end, Oberlin came up short, losing an extremely close game, 64-63, when Allegheny hit a field goal with 11 seconds remaining in regulation. After an Oberlin timeout, Ikpoh missed a running desperation shot as the clock expired.

“That’s why it was so crucial to win tonight,” coach “Happy” Dobbs said. “We would have had all the tie breakers. This game we gave up 64 points. We just didn’t shot well enough.”

Although strong shooting had been one of the reasons for recent success, Oberlin fell off their strong performance on this night. Dobbs said that the team shot the ball at a 46 percent clip when they were winning but only 40 percent in the loss to Allegheny.

Oberlin led the game 24-17 at halftime after Allegheny shot only 26 percent from the field. The game was tied with 11 minutes remaining before Allegheny pulled off the narrow victory. Allegheny shot 65 percent from the field in the second half to catch up to the Yeomen.

“It’s a hard game to lose.” Tomosavic said. “It puts us in a bad situation. They are a pretty good team. If each one of us did something better we would have won.”

By virtue of a 71-66 victory at Kenyon College, Denison University clinched the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament.

Oberlin will host Earlham College on Saturday to close out the season. Coach Dobbs said there is still something to play for on Saturday.

“At the least, we are going to be playing for the seniors,” he said.