Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as the Big Red rallied from a double-digit second half deficit to defeat Oberlin College 76-69 on Wednesday night from Livingston Gymnasium. The win marks the first time since the 1996-97 season that a Denison men's basketball team has started the year 3-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
The Big Red trailed by four at halftime and the Yeomen pushed their lead out to as much as 10 points in the opening minutes of the second half. Now trailing by eight with just over 11 minutes to play, freshman Jon Akpapunam (Bowie, Md./St. Mary's) converted a layup off an assist by Larry Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township). That play by Akpapunam would spark a 9-0 run that would lead to the Big Red's first lead with 9:31 to play when senior Jack Twyman (Rye, N.Y./Rye) dropped in a lay up off an inbounds feed from Mike Garabedian (La Grange, Ill./Nazareth Academy).
The lead would change hands seven more times following the Twyman basket, but with 3:42 remaining, now leading by three, Luther knocked down the biggest shot of the night when he connected on a 3-point try from the top of the arc, giving his squad a six-point lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Oberlin's Marcus Johnson would cut the DU lead back to three points with under one minute to play. After a missed layup in the paint by Denison guard Brett Tiberi (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Garabedian cemented his second double-double performance of the season with a timely offensive rebound and put-back to give the Big Red a five-point cushion with 45 seconds to play. Over the final 45 seconds Denison would go 6 for 6 from the free throw line to ice the victory.
Luther ended the night with 25 points off a 7 of 11 shooting performance. He was 6 of 9 from 3-point range and upped his season scoring average to 17.4 ppg. Garabedian followed with 17 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists in 32 minutes. Three others followed with eight points, the biggest of which coming from Akpapunam who notched his career-high by doing all of his damage in 12 minutes of action in the second half.
Oberlin was led by freshman Andrew Fox who finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Marcus Johnson came off the bench to score 19 points in 27 minutes and was 3 of 5 from long range. Denison shot 35 percent for the game compared to 51 percent for the Yeomen. Oberlin edged Denison 34-33 on the board but committed 20 turnovers which DU converted into 22 points.
Denison improves to 3-9 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC while Oberlin falls to 4-8 on the season and 0-3 in the conference. The Big Red's next opponent is Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday (Jan. 9) at 5:30 p.m. in Delaware, Ohio.
