GRANVILLE, Ohio--  A blistering first half from Denison was enough to carry the Big Red to an 80-61 win over visiting Oberlin College on Wednesday night at Livingston Gymnasium.

Denison scored 58 points in the first half behind 59 percent shooting and seven 3-pointers.  DU's suffocating defense led to offense and five minutes into the contest DU had an 18-7 lead after a 3-pointer from Matt Doyle.  Over the next four minutes the Big Red whipped up a 13-1 run to take a 31-8 lead with 10:37 to play in the first half.

If not for Oberlin's Joshua Friedkin, who scored 16 of his team's 29 points in the opening half, it could have been much worse for the Yeomen.  Despite Friedkin's shooting display, Denison went 20-for-34 from the field led by 11 from Garrett Collier and 10 apiece from Maxwell Siwik and Doyle.

In the second half, Denison cooled off on the offensive end but still crashed the glass, nabbing nine offensive rebounds to Oberlin's two in the period. For the game, Denison outscored Oberlin 24-0 on second-chance points. The Yeomen shot 50 percent in the second half compared to just 25 percent for the Big Red.

Collier led Denison with 15 points, four assists and four rebounds in 23 minutes.  Doyle and Siwik ended with 12 points apiece and Fred Brou led Denison with nine rebounds.  As a team, Denison outrebounded Oberlin 39-25 and shot 91 percent (19-of-21) from the free throw line. 

Friedkin led all scorers with 23 points but he also turned it over eight times in a team-high 33 minutes. 

Denison improves to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference while Oberlin drops to 4-4 and 0-4 in the NCAC.  This sets up an early-season clash for first place in the conference standings on Saturday, Dec. 9 in Granville when Wittenberg (7-0, 3-0 NCAC) comes to town for a 3 p.m. tip-off.