As the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament draws near, Denison's hopes of hosting a quarterfinal game were dealt a fatal blow on Wednesday night as Hiram College fended off the Big Red, 72-67 from Price Gymnasium.

It was a battle down the stretch as Denison found themselves with a 61-58 lead with 4:30 to play after a pair of free throws by Brad Woolard.  Hiram would respond with a 6-0 run over the next three minutes of play to steal lead back from the Big Red.  After Kevlin Jones' layup put the Terries up 64-61, Denison's David Meurer took the inbounds and went coast-to-coast, connecting on the layup while drawing contact and the whistle.  Meurer's free throw was off the mark and Hiram's Ray Gaston would strike at the other end after snagging an offensive rebound off a miss by Jones.  The put-back pushed Hiram to a 66-63 lead with 1:18 to play.

Eleven second later, Darius White would find Patrick Keller inside for the hoop and the foul.  Keller would convert the free throw with 1:07 left, tying the game at 66-66.

Hiram would continue the frenetic pace as Jones would score down low off an assist from J.J. Woodson with 54 seconds remaining.  On Denison's next possession, Darius White would miss from long range, but a steal by Meurer would give Denison a chance to tie or take the lead with 26 seconds to play.

DU would run the clock down to 11 seconds, that's when Robby Weingart drove to the basket and was fouled by Hiram's Josh Edmondson.  Weingart would split the pair of free throws, keeping Hiram in the lead by one with 11 seconds to play.  DU would foul Joe Zoltkowski before they could inbound the basketball.  Zoltkowski made both to take a 3-point lead and with six seconds left Brad Woolard's potentially game-tying 3-pointer would miss.  Hiram secured the rebound and would close out the game with two more free throws with two seconds left, setting the final at 72-67.

Hiram won the battle of the boards 44-24 and the Terriers' 15 offensive rebounds would prove to be a major difference in the outcome of the game.  Hiram outscored DU 13-5 in second chance points and the Terrier bench outscored Denison's bench, 24-13.

Meurer led Denison with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals while shooting 7-of-16 from the field.  Weingart added 14 points in 28 minutes.  He was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.  As a team, Denison shot 41 percent (24-of-58) and were 9-of-24 (.375) from long range.

Hiram was led in scoring by Woodson and Jeremiah Thomas' 13 points.  Jones led the Terriers in rebounding with 10 while Gatson contributed 10 points and nine boards off the bench.  The home team shot 48 percent from the field and were 4-of-16 from 3-point range.

Denison (13-11, 7-10 NCAC) will close out the regular season on Saturday when they host Allegheny at 3 p.m.