Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) scored 19 points and Alex Longi (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) added 17 points helping the Denison Big Red to a 76-65 victory over Oberlin on Saturday from Philips Gymnasium.

Denison never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 17 points midway through the second half.  While the Big Red managed to stave off a late run by the Yeomen, it was an excellent start that would pay dividends for DU.

Denison opened the game by going 6-for-7 from the field which resulted in a 16-2 lead through the opening five minutes of the contest.  Oberlin would trim that lead down to 38-26 at halftime.

In the second half, DU's lead remained in double-digits until a 3-pointer by Oberlin's Pat Bernhard cut the deficit to seven, 64-57 with 4:40 to play.  The Yeomen's run would continue when Charlie Crawford-Silva converted a layup with 3:05 remaining, trimming Denison's lead to just four.

On their ensuing possession Oberlin's Maxi Farris fouled Hale and the sophomore sank both free throws.  The next Oberlin possession would result in a steal by Longi and the rookie split a pair of free throws to push their lead back out to seven with 2:31 to play.

DU assured themselves a victory by going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe over the final 1:52.

Half of those free throws were converted by junior Mike Garabedian (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) who turned in an excellent effort with eight points, a career-high seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in 35 minutes.

Junior guard Brett Tiberi (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) finished with 12 points and three rebounds in 27 minutes.  Tiberi was 3-of-6 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range.

In addition to his 17 points, Longi added five rebounds and was 7-for-8 from the field.  Hale was 6-of-9 from the floor while going 7-for-11 from the charity stripe.  Also getting into the act was junior Marr Mansfield (Westerville, Ohio/Central) who scored eight points and had five rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench.  Junior guard Jim Leffew (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) tallied nine points, all from beyond the arc.

Oberlin got 16 points from Andrew Fox and 15 from Josh Merritt.

DU shot 55 percent from the field while Oberlin connected on 48 percent of their shots.  At the free throw line, Denison was 22-of-31 (.710) and Oberlin was 17-for-25 (.680).  The home team edged the Big Red on the boards, 28-26.

Denison improves to 5-9 and 2-4 in North Coast Athletic Conference play.  They will return to action on Wednesday (Jan. 12) when they travel to Delaware, Ohio for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against Ohio Wesleyan.