Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) scored 18 points and the Big Red utilized a 19-5 run over the final eight minutes of the game to defeat Oberlin College, 77-58 from Livingston Gymnasium in Granville, Ohio.

Denison came out of the gates red-hot from beyond the arc. In the first half they connected on seven of their nine 3-point tries and junior guard Brett Tiberi (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) was 4-for-4 from the field and had 12 points helping DU to a 41-26 lead at the intermission.

In the second half DU pushed their lead out to 19 points after a 3-pointer by Mike Garabedian (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) and a layup by Hale.  Facing their largest deficit of the game, Oberlin responded with a 20-8 run over the next 10 minutes that cut the Denison lead to 58-53 with just under eight minutes to play.

Down the stretch the play of Hale, Garabedian and sophomore guard Jon Akpapunam (Bowie, Md./St. Mary's) would be the difference for the Big Red.  Akpapunam scored seven of his 14 points over the final four minutes of the contest to help Denison to their second straight North Coast Athletic Conference victory.

In addition to his 18 points in 37 minutes, Hale also added four rebounds and four assists.  Garabedian ended the game with 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds.  Tiberi tallied 15 points and was 4-for-6 from beyond the arc.  Junior point guard Jim Leffew (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach), who was coming off his buzzer beater on Thursday against No. 15 Wabash, played his fourth straight game without committing a turnover.  His last turnover came early in the second half against Allegheny College on Jan. 22, a streak of four and a half games and 133 consecutive minutes.

Oberlin was led by Emmanuel Lewis' 13 points off the bench.  Charlie Crawford-Sliva scored 11 points and had six rebounds for the Yeomen.

Denison improves to 8-14 overall and 5-8 in the NCAC with the victory.  The Big Red shot 54 percent from the field and were 9-for-16 from 3-point range.  DU also won the battle of the boards, 25-20 and outscored the Yeomen 21-6 off 14 Oberlin turnovers.

The Big Red will return to action on Wednesday (Feb. 9) when they travel to Gambier, Ohio for a 6 p.m. tip-off against Kenyon College.