Hiram College knocked down 6-of-7 free throw attempts in the final 69 seconds to hold off a late Denison charge and secure a 74-69 victory over the Big Red on Saturday afternoon in Granville, Ohio.

The two NCAC rivals battled closely for the entire 20 minutes of the opening period.  Trailing 10-8 early in the game, the Terriers went on a 12-3 run to build their largest lead of the afternoon at seven points.  Denison answered with six-straight tallies to shrink the deficit to one (20-19) with 10:40 left in the first half.  Hiram closed out the final five minutes of the frame with a 10-2 run that was capped off by an Aaron Stefanov three-pointer that give the visiting team a 38-31 edge at the break.

The Big Red's Jim Leffew (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) knocked down the first two jumpers of the second half to trim the margin to three points (38-35).  Now down 42-35, DU rattled off five unanswered tallies to close the gap to 42-40 with 14:55 remaining in the frame.

Trailing 49-44 with 13 minutes on the clock, Denison picked up the tempo on both sides of the ball.  After junior Mike Garabedian (La Grange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) found classmate Marr Mansfield (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central) for a layup, the 6-foot-4 Mansfield came up with a big steal on the other end that resulted in a bucket by sophomore Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) that cut the margin to 49-48.

On the ensuing Terrier possession, the Westerville native forced a second defensive takeaway that led to another Hale basket which game DU a one-point advantage.  On Hiram's next trip down the floor, Mansfield blocked a Glenn Campbell shot that resulted in a Terrier turnover with 11:28 on the clock.

On the next Big Red possession, Leffew found a wide open Garabedian who converted on a layup to extend the Denison lead to 52-49.  Mansfield capped off the 10-0 DU run with a pair of free throws to give the home team a five-point edge.  Hiram answered the rally with a Stefanov triple, but a layup by Hale and a pair of foul shots by Leffew gave the Big Red a six-point lead (58-52), their largest of the afternoon.

Now facing a four-point deficit (60-56), Hiram's Chris Roberts and Nick Russo hit back-to-back threes to put the Terriers in front 62-60 with 5:34 left in regulation.  Hale knotted the game at 62-all after grabbing an offensive board and converting the putback.  Tied at 63-63, Andrew Wiegand hit a three-pointer and scored a short-range bucket to put Hiram ahead 68-63 late in the contest.

Down 72-67 with under 30 seconds left in the game, Garabedian scored after pulling down a huge offensive board to make it a one-possession game with 21 seconds on the clock.  However, Stefanov sank both free throw attempts with 17 seconds remaining to ice the game for Hiram.

The Big Red shot 50 percent (28-of-56) from the field, but struggled from long range shooting just 16 percent from behind the arc.  The Terriers hit 45 percent from the floor, and shot 39 percent from three-point land.  Hiram held a slim 34-33 edge in rebounding.

Hale logged his second-career double-double with a game-high 24 points and a career-best 18 rebounds, while Garabedian chipped in 17 points and four boards.  Manfield also had a solid outing with 10 points and three steals, both career highs.  The junior also grabbed five boards and blocked a career-high tying two shots.

The Terriers were led by Stefanov's 16 points, while Wiegand added 14 and Roberts chipped in 10.  Babajide Eniola paced Hiram on the glass with 10 rebounds.

Denison falls to 4-5 on the year and 1-3 in the conference, while Hiram improves to 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the NCAC.  DU returns to action on Wednesday (Dec. 15) when they host Mount St. Joseph in non-conference action at 7:30 p.m.