Yeomen lose final contest

Despite tough play by Oberlin, OWU wins 80-70

Over the second half of its season, the men's basketball team played to the level of their competition. Its final game was no exception.

At the beginning of the game Saturday, the Yeomen's opponent, Ohio Wesleyan University, played slightly sloppy basketball.

Seven minutes into the game, each team had scored just seven points. But it looked like the momentum was swinging in favor of the Yeomen in front of the Oberlin crowd - and in front of the contingent of cheerleaders OWU brought along.

Coming into the game, OWU was just several rungs above the Yeomen in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings. The rungs were wide in terms of number of wins; OWU had eight in conference play and Oberlin was looking at its last chance to register its first conference victory in more than a year.

They didn't. In fact, after OWU broke the tie 23 seconds after first-year Richard Santiago's lay-up evened the score seven minutes into the game, the Yeomen trailed for the rest of the game.

The count was 35-25 in favor of the visitors at the halftime break. Throughout the second half, the margin hovered around 10 points. When the game ended, the score was 80-70.

The second half was an even game between the teams. But neither team played consistently. When the half began, both teams looked lethargic. In fact, the two head coaches - Oberlin's Gene DeLorenzo and OWU's Gene Mehaffey seemed more animated than any of the players on the floor at some points in the game.

Mehaffey, wearing a powder blue sports coat, barked out commands in a gruff voice. "Let him shoot!" he instructed his team's zone defense. DeLorenzo, on the other end of the floor, took his coat off early in the game and spent a lot of his sideline time hopping on one foot and tossing his hands into the air.

For their part, the players were not exactly silent all game. Junior guard Anthony Calloway, consistently the top Yeomen scorer, put in 24 points, one more than OWU's J.R. Shumate, the conference's top scorer.

"When the pressure's on, that's when I play my best," Calloway said.

The other pair of Yeomen who averaged in double figures throughout the season broke the 10-point barrier. First-year forward John Norris and sophomore guard Frank Boley put in 12 and 11 respectively. Norris led the team in rebounds for the game with 10.

Norris and junior guard Darryl Seldon both fouled out. Seldon, whom teammates have described as Oberlin's floor leader, stayed on the bench through a lot of the second half after he picked up his fourth foul two minutes after the half began.

Seldon's fourth foul was one of a series of mishaps for the Yeomen early in the half. Shots did not fall and the ball slipped away from a few Oberlin players.

Oberlin recovered midway through the half, pouring in 31 points - six more than they had in the entire first half - in the game's final ten minutes. OWU maintained the symmetry of the second half by scoring 28 over that same stretch.

The game was the last career game for seniors Noah Bopp and Austin Kerr. Each of those players played reserve roles for the Yeomen. But their teammates said their leadership will be missed.

The enduring spirits of the two seniors and the rest of the squad made the season special for DeLorenzo. The coach said the standing ovation the fans gave his team at the end of the OWU game was one of the highlights of his coaching career.

"Certainly, any 2-22 season has to be disappointing," DeLorenzo said. "From the perspective of what people were able to put into it, given their ability, it was a very special season."

In their four years at Oberlin, Bopp and Kerr's teams won just 11 games. This season's final record was 2-22 overall, including 0-16 in NCAC play. The victory totals might not accurately describe the quality of the team. Late this season, blow-outs were rare, even in one of the toughest Division III conferences in the country.

Oberlin proved it could play with almost anyone, but that it could beat hardly anyone. "That's the mark of a young team," Calloway said. "As we grow older and mature together, we have to learn to play consistently."

The growth for the Yeomen is promising in terms of numbers. With only two players lost to graduation, next year's team could resemble this year's with one possible very notable difference: the coach. DeLorenzo's wife, Katharine Perry-DeLorenzo, a former lacrosse and field hockey coach at Oberlin, took a job this year at Skidmore College. DeLorenzo said he doesn't know whether he'll return to Oberlin next year.

On the move: Oberlin guard Anthony Calloway drives to the basket in last week's game against Ohio Wesleyan University. Calloway was the Yeomen's lewading scorer for most of the season. (photo by David Reeves)