The Oberlin College men’s basketball team has recently put together two improved performances in the hopes of adding their first notch to the win column in conference play.
Despite the fact that the team’s record is currently 1-19, recent games have been much more competitive and close. In the past week, Oberlin defeated Penn State-Behrend to gain its first win of the season while it also managed to keep other conference games close into the last five minutes of the second half.
“It seems that we cannot pull together a complete game,” sophomore wing Steve Reid explained.
While results have not been what coaches and players have wanted so far, pride and confidence are still at stake for the final six games of the season. With some key victories in the conference, Oberlin still has the outside possibility of catching Hiram College or Kenyon College for the final spot in the Conference Championship beginning at the end of the month.
As the coaching techniques and emphasis of a new staff are starting to settle in as the season pushes on, better play and spirits have been noticeable.
This past weekend Oberlin traveled to Richmond, Indiana to face Earlham College. With only a ten-point deficit of 35-25 at the half, the hopes of winning conference game number one were still alive. But in what has been the norm this year, untimely turnovers along with poor shooting led to the Yeomen’s downfall, as the team lost 66-57. Sophomore forward Bosko Tomasavic led the team with 15 points.
With that tough loss under its belt, Oberlin took the court on Wednesday night to face 1-18 Kenyon College in a clash with the bottom two teams of the conference thus far. In what many anticipated would be a low-scoring and close game, the exact opposite occurred.
At the end of a shootout, Oberlin succumbed to a hot-shooting Kenyon team, falling 94-81. After the loss, Oberlin dropped to 1-19 on the season and 0-12 in NCAC play.
Throughout the season, the effort and play have been at high levels, but adapting to a new system has been tough, with the coaches still pushing the same key points.
“I am sure they are trying to get across the same things,” senior wing Justin Perkins said, referring to the coaching staff’s work this season.
This weekend the team will host Ohio Wesleyan University in a rematch of a close game that happened earlier this season. Ohio Wesleyan comes into the game with a 10-10 mark, also remembering the loss it suffered to Oberlin in the first round of the Conference Championship last year.