After playing Hiram even for the first 25 minutes of Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference match-up from Price Gymnasium, the Terriers broke loose for a 23-0 run that spanned eight minutes of the second half.  The result was a 78-60 victory for Hiram over the Denison Big Red.

The two teams went into the locker room deadlocked at 32-32 after Denison managed to shoot 47 percent from the field in the opening stanza. DU led by as many as eight points in the opening half after a jumper by Marr Mansfield (Westerville, Ohio/Central) put the visitors up 18-10 at the 10:07 mark.

In the second half, Denison junior Mike Garabedian (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) got his squad going when he connected on a 3-point play in the paint and a 3-pointer, all in the opening two minutes, to give his team a 38-27 lead.  A basket by Hiram's Chris Meyer at the 15:16 mark would put the Terriers up 43-40 and two Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) free throws would trim back Hiram's lead to 43-42 with 14:55 to go.

This is where things started to go south for the Big Red.  A jumper by Chris Roberts at the 14:22 mark of the second half would spark an eight minute drought for DU in which Denison missed eight shots while committing five turnovers.  Hiram was red-hot during this run, going 10-for-14 from the field while being powered by Andrew Wiegand, who scored eight of his 10 points during that run.

By the time the Hiram blitz ended, Denison found themselves trailing by 24 points with just over seven minutes to play.  Down the stretch the Big Red outscored the Terriers 18-12 but the time for a comeback attempt had passed.

Hiram (10-9, 4-6 NCAC) was led in scoring by Aaron Stefanov who came off the bench to score 14 points in 17 minutes.  Babajide Eniola followed with 12 points and seven rebounds.  Hiram shot 51 percent for the game and was 8-for-14 from 3-point rage (.571).

Denison was paced in the scoring department by Hale's 13 points.  Garabedian reached double figures by going 4-for-7 from the field for 11 points and Alex Longi (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) led DU on the boards with 10.

The Big Red shot 42 percent from the field (23-for-55) and was 6-for-20 from long-range.  Hiram held a 38-30 edge on the glass and a 14-9 advantage in turnovers.

Denison (6-14, 3-8 NCAC) will return to action on Wednesday (Feb. 2) when they host Wabash College at 8 p.m.  A live video webcast of Wednesday's doubleheader from Livingston Gymnasium will be provided by the Denison Sports Network.