LEXINGTON, Va. (December 30, 2023) – The Denison University men's basketball team led by one point with the ball in the final 10 seconds of the game, but a costly turnover allowed the tournament hosts from Washington and Lee University to take the 74-73 win in the championship game of the W&L Holiday Tournament on Saturday.

It was only the second meeting all-time between Denison (8-5 overall) and W&L (7-4) and was their first since the first game of the 2006-07 season.

The 11th lead change of the game came on a layup by Ricky Radtke with 9:15 on the clock, putting Denison in front 52-51, and then Trevor Reed followed with a 3-pointer on the next Big Red possession.

A pull up by Reed made it 57-51 Big Red with just over seven and a half minutes left, and then after a layup by Reed and a 3-pointer by Nick Heath, a layup by Gates Flynn capped what was a 14-2 Denison run that made it 64-53 Big Red with just under five and a half minutes to go.

W&L, however, would not go away and made it a 3-point game (73-70) with a 3-pointer at the start of the final minute.

Then with 10 seconds left, the Generals' best player, Robert DiSibio, was fouled on a 3-point attempt and went to the line with a chance to tie the game.

DiSibio missed his first attempt before making the next two to make it a one-point game, and then after a timeout by the Big Red, a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass allowed the Generals to find Jack d'Entremont for the go-ahead layup with five seconds left.

Kellon Smith took the ball the length of the floor and had a contested look from three to try and win it, but was off the mark.

In all, it was a 7-0 run in the final minute to win the game for W&L.

Only six W&L players entered the scoring column as DiSibio finished with 31 points on 12-for-21 shooting while d'Entremont scored 23 points. The pair combined for all but 20 of the team's total points.

Reed was named to the all-tournament team for the Big Red after scoring a career-high 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 mark from 3-point range. The only other player in double figures for Denison was Radtke with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Denison will return to the court after the New Year by restarting North Coast Athletic Conference action at Wabash College starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 3.