Frustration, pain and missed opportunities have categorized not only recent games for the Oberlin College men’s basketball team, but the whole season.
Although the season has not gone the way that the team would like, the learning curve that the players have demonstrated has been encouraging.
While play has been improving, head coach Frank Dobbs quickly points out some of the problems of the season thus far.
“Defensively we have been up and down,” he said. “We are scoring on a more consistent basis.”
This past weekend, Oberlin took on an Ohio Wesleyan team that ranks in the top half of the conference. With an outside shot at still making the conference tournament at the end of the year, Oberlin hoped to upset the Battling Bishops.
A see-saw first half saw Oberlin shoot an impressive 50 percent from the field. But the inside game of the conference’s leading scorer, Ohio Wesleyan’s Travis Schwab, proved too much for Oberlin. With foul problems piling up and the confidence of the Battling Bishops getting stronger through the first half, the lead of 37-30 at halftime seemed much larger than it actually was.
While the Battling Bishops’ advantage ballooned to twenty points only once during the second half, the smallest lead was still a comfortable four points.
Despite outshooting Ohio Wesleyan in the second half, four Yeomen accumulated four fouls apiece by the end of the game. This in part caused Oberlin to fall short in their comeback attempt and lose the game 78-61.
On Wednesday night, Oberlin traveled to Meadville, Pa. to take on the Gators of Allegheny College.
From the start, nothing went in favor of the visiting Yeomen. Oberlin struggled after falling into a 15-1 hole at the start of the contest.
A 52-25 halftime deficit was too much to overcome and Oberlin fell to Allegheny, 99-60.
After this game, Allegheny improved to 11-11 and 7-6 in the North Coast Athletic Conference while Oberlin dropped its season total to 1-12 and 0-13 in conference play.
“Last night was one of those games that nothing went right,” Dobbs explained.
Oberlin has been working tirelessly in practice to cut down on turnovers. While they have been doing a better job in recent weeks, Wednesday’s game ended with a whopping 32 turnovers—a season high to date.
Oberlin will next face Wabash College Saturday in a matchup quickly becoming a rivarly.
The players and the coaching staff are looking forward to the contest this weekend.
“It’s going to be a very physical game,” Dobbs said.