Yeomen Tie Last Year's Victory Total Against Lake Erie College

Elrod Scores 1000th Career Point

The Oberlin men's basketball team matched last year's win total of two with an 83-71 victory over Lake Erie College this past Saturday. On Wednesday the Yeomen fell to Wooster the number-two ranked team in the nation. The loss drops their record to 2-4 on the season.

In the Lake Erie game on Saturday at Philips Gymnasium Oberlin fell behind early and played from behind the entire first half.

Eleven seconds into the game, Brandon Henderson got the scoring started with a three-pointer from the top of the key making it 3-0 Lake Erie. Brandon Dominick put Lake Erie up 6-0 when he converted a three point play.

Junior big man Brian Buchanan put Oberlin on the scoreboard hitting a five foot jumper making the score 6-2 in favor of Lake Erie.

Dominick then hit a 15 foot jump shot from the left wing making the score 8-2, but senior Maurice Elrod countered for Oberlin at the other end with a layup, making it 8-4. Two foul shots from Henderson and a layup by Josh Smith increased Lake Erie's lead to 8 just three minutes into the game.

With 16:30 to go in the first half, NCAC player of the week senior James Knight received a pass from first-year point guard Cameron Leverett and took to the air with a dunk that ignited the home crowd.

A Smith layup and Henderson foul shot followed by a Dominick layup and another Smith layup extended Lake Erie's lead to 12, putting them up 21-9. The lone basket for Oberlin during the nine point run by Lake Erie came on a three by Knight from the left wing.

After calling a timeout with 14:40 to go in the first half, Oberlin recouped and went on a 9-0 run of their own, pulling to within three at 21-18 with 11:30 to go. Coming out of the timeout Elrod exploded, scoring seven of Oberlin's nine points in a row. The run was capped when Elrod hit Knight for the layup to make it 21-18.

The teams exchanged threes the next two trips down the court with Dominick hitting the first for Lake Erie and first year backup point guard Julius Hill hitting for Oberlin.

"[Hill] played his best game of the year against Lake Erie. He's playing a new position and is adjusting well to it," coach Mike Cavey said.

An eight footer inside the paint by Knight pulled Oberlin within one at 24-23 but two quick scores by Harold Russell took the lead back to five for Lake Erie.

For the rest of the half Oberlin's big men would keep the game close with three of the final four buckets being made by sophomore Jon MacDonald and junior Ric Pierce.

At the half, Oberlin trailed Lake Erie 39-35.

Stats at the half for Oberlin had Knight leading the way in points and rebounds with 11 and six and Elrod second in scoring with 10. For Lake Erie, Dominick had 13 and was the only person in double figures.

The second half began with a layup by Buchanan who then followed it up by converting two free throws and tying the game up at 39.

Russell put Lake Erie back on top with a layup at the other end, but only long enough for Knight to send the entire gym into a frenzy. With only one man left to beat for an easy two points, Knight opted not to take the easy layup but to dunk over the man defending him. The crowd exploded into cheer, and the tide of the game had effectively switched to Oberlin.

At the other end, Henderson sank two free throws, putting Lake Erie back up two, but Knight drained a three on the next trip down the floor and gave Oberlin their first lead of the night at 44-43.

"We got down early but were able to keep it close and eventually get back in it," Cavey said.

The big men on both teams kept the game close for the bulk of the second half, but with just under six minutes left in the game Buchanan scored from under the hoop, giving Oberlin the lead for good at 65-63.

Elrod followed Buchanan's basket with a long two from the right side, forcing a flustered Lake Erie team to call timeout with five minutes remaining and a mounting deficit to overcome.

Straight out of the timeout Elrod hit another two, increasing Oberlin's lead to six and slamming the door shut on Lake Erie's hopes of coming back.

Buchanan and Knight combined for nine points in the last three and a half minutes and the game ended with Oberlin winning 83-71.

"We definitely stepped up on the inside tonight against Lake Erie. We won the battle of the boards and contained Dominick, their big scorer," Cavey said.

Dominick ended the night 6-20 shooting and 2-10 from long range for 17 points. Other leading scorers for Lake Erie included Russell with 18 and Henderson with 17,

For Oberlin, Knight led the way with a game high 26 points and 14 rebounds, followed in scoring by Elrod with 17 and Buchanan with 14. Elrod struggled from the floor, shooting 7-21, and from long range, hitting only 1-10.

"[Elrod] will be the first to admit that his shot is struggling right now, but he is still hitting big shots when we need them and we will ride him through this slump," Cavey said.

On Wednesday Oberlin took on Wooster, the second ranked team in the nation.

Oberlin came out strong in the first half and kept the game close, trailing 37-33 at the half. The second half was another story, though, as Wooster exploded for 46 while Oberlin scored only 19. The final ended up being Wooster 83, Oberlin 52.

Bryan Nelson, one of the top big men in the conference, got the game started with a layup. Knight followed at the other end with an offensive rebound and putback making the score 2-2.

Wooster then went on an 8-2 run with a quick layup followed by a long range three from Matt Smith and the conversion of free throws by Nelson and Antwyan Reynolds.

With the score at 10-4, Oberlin battled back with Pierce hitting a runner in the paint followed by sophomore Justin Perkins grabbing an offensive board and putting it in and Knight draining a three. MacDonald followed up Knight's three with a 15 footer from the baseline cutting Wooster's lead to 17-15.

After a few quick Wooster baskets, Elrod stepped up and kept the game from getting out of hand by knocking down a three and following it with a layup. This pulled Oberlin to within one point at 21-20 with nine minutes to go in the first half.

Coming out of a timeout and down four, Oberlin stepped up and proved they could hang with the best team in the conference. Elrod converted on two free throws and Hill scored back-to-back layups to give Oberlin their first lead of the game 26-24.

Wooster, no doubt surprised to find themselves down called timeout to regroup.

With the score tied at 26, Knight put Oberlin up once again when he drained at three from the left wing after receiving a pass from sophomore Djorde Eremic.

As the first half came to a close Wooster pulled ahead slightly because of converted free throws.

At the half the score was Wooster 37, Oberlin 33.

"In the locker room I told the guys that as long as we kept the same effort and clean a few things up we had a good shot at beating [Wooster]," Cavey said.

The second half for Oberlin was another story. "It was like night and day for us against Wooster," Cavey said.

Wooster came out running in the second half and quickly doubled their lead from four to eight.

"Wooster is a good team and well-coached. All their coach had to say in the locker room was 'come on guys, you are better than this,' and they would respond," Cavey said. " They came out in the second half with a game plan and an increased level of intensity and we came out down a level."

After the two quick baskets by Wooster and with Oberlin unable to set up any sort of offense, Cavey called a timeout and attempted to regroup his players. Coming out of the timeout Knight would proceed to score on a pass from Elrod but that would be Oberlin's last score for three minutes.

"Wooster worked the ball inside to Nelson and we couldn't step up inside to shut him down in the second half," Cavey said.

With Wooster's lead constantly increasing, Oberlin could feel the game slipping away, and with 5:09 left in the game and the lead around 20, Oberlin received two technical fouls.

The first came when Wooster's Brian Carlisle and Oberlin's Buchanan got tied up and in the process of getting their arms untangled pushed each other. As a result of the push Buchanan was hit with a technical foul, and in response to the call, Cavey was hit with another when he protested. The two T's put the game away for Oberlin and the only highlight for Oberlin in the last five minutes was Elrod scoring his thousandth point on Oberlin's last basket with 1:46 left in the game.

"[Elrod] scoring a 1000 points is definitely a compliment to him. He has stuck it out through four hard years and is a dedicated individual who deserves congratulations for his hard work," Cavey said.

Knight added one more double-double to his already impressive start by scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Elrod was again second in scoring putting in 14 in the loss.

Wooster had five guys hit double figures in points with Nelson leading the way with a game high 18 followed by Carlisle with 15, Reynolds and Randy Sistrunk with 14 and Smith pitching in 10.

Oberlin will travel to Delaware, Ohio this Saturday to take on a pumped up Ohio Wesleyan team who is coming off a victory Wednesday night against #19 ranked Wittenberg.