November has come again, and with it the dawning of a new season of Oberlin College men’s basketball. The Yeomen are hoping to improve upon last year’s record of 7-18, but fell in their first four games of the season.
“We’re a young team still working to come together for our first conference game on Saturday [at Hiram College],” Head Coach Mike Cavey said.
The team started their year at the Buffalo State Coles Classic Tournament on Nov. 17. In front of a huge crowd, the first contest resulted in a nail-biting 59-50 loss for the Yeomen. The game was close at the half, as the Buffalo State Bengals maintained a small six-point lead, but the Yeomen simply couldn’t keep up.
Late in the second half, the Yeomen came close to a comeback and out-scored the Bengals on a 13-8 run, but it was too little, too late. Sophomore Cameron Leverett and junior Justin Perkins led the Yeomen in points with 16 and 14. The pair also led the team in rebounding as the small but mighty Leverett grabbed 11 rebounds and Perkins snagged 10. Josh Becker and Shawn Haseley led the Bengals in scoring with 11 and 10.
Though the Yeomen shot a dismal field-goal percentage of .314 (16-51) and an even lower three-point shooting percentage of .167 (3-18), they still boasted a rather impressive free-throw shooting of .750 (15-20). “We’re looking to improve our shooting in time for conference play,” Cavey said.
The next day the Yeomen played their second game of the young season at 2 p.m. against the Alma College (Mich.) Scots. In this tournament consolation game the only team that was consoled was Alma. The Yeomen lost again, this time by a 16 point margin, 68-52. The Yeomen were up by six at the half, but were beat in the second half 36-15. The top scorers for the Yeomen were sophomore Julius Hill and first-year James Keating, who notched 14 and 13 points to their credit. Senior Ric Pierce and Hill tied for the team lead in rebounds with five a piece. Ryan Knudsen paced a well-balanced Scots team with 17 points.
After disappointing results in their first two games, the Yeomen hoped to rebound with a victory against a solid DePauw University team, who was then undefeated at 3-0. However, the Yeomen lost at Neal Fieldhouse in Greencastle, Ind., by a more one-sided score of 90-62. First-year big man Chris Ikpoh led Oberlin with 20 points, and Joe Nixon carried DePauw with 27 points and seven rebounds. Oberlin’s field goal shooting was a season-high .440 (24-55), but their free throw percentage dropped to .530. In the contest, DePauw sprinted to a quick 12-0 lead, but Oberlin kept the score close until the final few minutes of the first half when DePauw opened the game up with a 13-point lead. DePauw continued to accelerate in the second half and in the final minutes, never dropping below a 20-point lead.
The Yeomen’s fourth and most recent loss of the season came in their first home game, which was played on Tuesday night at Philips Gymnasium. Their opponents, Saint Vincent College of Pa., soundly defeated Oberlin by a score 89-56. In the first three minutes of play, the teams participated in a western-style shootout, with first one three-pointer coming from the Bearcats, then the Yeomen answering with one of their own. The two teams tried to develop their inside games early until the Bearcats finally took advantage of their superior size by taking control of the paint. Several steals led to fast-break points for St. Vincent, and they quickened their pace to come out with a 52-26 lead at the half. The Bearcats continued to shoot the lights out in the second half by capitalizing on their fluid ball movement and speed to create fast-break points. However, perhaps the most devastating thing to Oberlin was the Bearcats’ use of the zone defense that prevented the Yeomen from penetrating inside. Only until after the game was out of reach did Oberlin start nailing outside shots to open up the middle.
Dartona Washman led the Bearcats with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Ikpoh had 16 points and nine rebounds for Oberlin. The Yeomen finished the game by making 21 of 65 shots from the field, while the Bearcats wore out the nets by racking up 38 field goals in 67 attempts.

Although the Yeomen fell short in their first four games of the season, the defeats served more or less as a tune-up for their first conference game tomorrow at Hiram College. Hiram has struggled early in the season and is very susceptible to a loss at the hands of the young Yeomen.