GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 11, 2023) – Ohio Wesleyan University scored 50 points and made nine 3-pointers in the second half to earn a 74-60 win over the Denison University men's basketball team on Wednesday night inside Livingston Gymnasium.

Denison took an early nine-point lead (14-5) six minutes into the game after an 8-0 run featuring a 3-pointer by Dre Rodgers, a quick layup by Darren Rubin and a 3-pointer by Chase Ouellette.

However, OWU answered back with four straight makes as a team and five straight points by the leading scorer in the North Coast Athletic Conference, Jack Clement, to tie it at 14-14 nine minutes in.

OWU then made it an 11-0 run to take a 16-14 lead with under eight minutes left in the first half, and then it grew to a 15-2 run as a pair of free throws by the Battling Bishops made it 20-16 with five minutes to go until the intermission.

After starting the game 5-for-9 from the field, Denison finished the first half shooting only 28 percent (7-for-25) while OWU shot 43.5 percent (10-for-23), led it 24-20 and took advantage of eight Big Red turnovers to outscore Denison 9-3 on points off turnovers in the opening period.

The Big Red did not allow the Battling Bishops to record an offensive rebound in the first half, but that changed with an early 3-pointer on a second-chance try one minute into the second half, giving OWU its biggest lead of the game to that point (29-22).

Denison battled back and retook the lead with a 12-4 run ending with seven straight points by Will Hunter to make it 34-33 Big Red four minutes into the second half.

From there, the two teams traded the next five baskets until a 3-pointer by OWU's Henry Hinkle made it 44-38 Battling Bishops seven minutes into the second half. An and-one by Hinkle made it a seven-point game (47-40) over a minute later, and then Hinkle scored again with a driving layup to make it 49-40 nine minutes into the half.

Then after four straight points by Rubin on a pair of free throws and a layup for the Big Red, Clement had the answer with a 3-pointer followed by a tough layup over his defender to bring up the first double-digit lead of the game (54-44) for either team with 9:15 left to play.

Back-to-back 3-ponters by Hinkle and Clement, their third and fourth 3-point makes of the game, respectively, made it a 64-46 Battling Bishops lead with only six and a half minutes remaining. The Bishops then added two more 3-pointers to make it four possessions in a row with a three as the lead moved to 70-51 with five minutes left.

In the end, OWU connected on nine 3-pointers in the second half and shot 45.8 percent (11-for-24) from long range for the game while also outscoring Denison 21-10 in points off turnovers. Hinkle led all players in scoring with 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 shooting from three while Clement was not far behind with 20 points.

Denison was led by Rubin with 13 points while Ricky Radtke and Hunter both finished with nine points, and Radtke finished with a game-high eight rebounds. Aidan King added six points as well for the Big Red.

Denison falls back to .500 both overall (7-7) and in the NCAC (3-3) while OWU (10-5 overall, 5-1 NCAC) remains one of three teams in the conference with only one loss in NCAC action.

Next up, Denison will try to get back into the win column as the Big Red hit the road for a NCAC contest at Hiram College starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 14.