A preseason goal that seemed nearly impossible to achieve four weeks ago, is now sitting at the Big Red's doorstep.  It has been seven years since Denison men's basketball hosted a home game in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament and following Wednesday's 73-55 victory over Kenyon College in front of a boisterous crowd inside Livingston Gym, the Big Red control their own destiny in the upcoming conference tournament.

On Saturday, Denison will travel to Ohio Wesleyan for a 3 p.m. tip-off against the Battling Bishops in what will be the 2011-12 regular season finale.  A victory for DU should secure the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. A loss could seed Denison either fifth or fourth, depending on conference tiebreakers.  The top-four seeds in the eight-team conference tournament serve as hosts for the quarterfinal round.

In tonight's win over Kenyon, the Big Red led nearly wire-to-wire, pushing its lead to as many as 23 points late in the second half.  In the first half Kenyon trimmed Denison's double-digit lead to five with just one minute left but after a Marcus Healey turnover, Denison's Mike Garabedian made the Lords pay with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc off a pass from Brett Tiberi.  That shot sent DU into the locker room with an eight point lead.

Dimonde Hale, who was saddled with foul trouble through the bulk of the first half, came out of the blocks with fresh legs in the second half, scoring six quick points to give his squad a 12-point lead just 2:30 into the half.

The Lords would make a run with 10 minutes left thanks to a three-point play by Anthony Chun and a short jumper by Brian Lebowitz.  With Kenyon trailing by only six, it was Denison's turn to answer and what followed was a lighting quick 8-0 run that put the Big Red back up 13 with 8:10 to play.  Senior Jim Leffew's step-back 17-footer got Denison going and Larry Farmer and Hale followed with field goals pushing all of the momentum back on their side.

Over the next seven minutes DU would slowly build its lead while negating any potential Kenyon comeback attempts.  In what was the final regular season home game for Denison seven-member senior class, six of the seven scored in the contest and five of the seven started the game.

Hale led all Denison scorers with 15 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes.  Farmer followed with 12 points and five rebounds while Tiberi finished with 11 points while going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.  The Big Red has now won six of its last seven games and during that stretch, Tiberi is shooting 48 percent from beyond the arc (20-for-42).

Kenyon was led by Lebowitz and Ikenna Nwadibia's 15 points.  Lebowitz also paced the Lords with eight rebounds in 26 minutes.

The victory improves Denison's record to 12-12 overall and 9-6 in the NCAC.  Kenyon falls to 10-13 and 4-10 in conference play.