DELAWARE, Ohio (February 11, 2023) – The Denison University men's basketball team suffered a season sweep at the hands of the Battling Bishops as the Big Red fell 78-61 at Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon at Branch Rickey Arena.

Denison used a smooth layup in transition by Nick Heath followed by a layup by Will Hunter in the final 15 seconds of the first half to pull to within two of the Battling Bishops (33-31) at halftime.

Denison never led in the first half, but after starting the game 0-for-4 from three, Darren Rubin opened up the second half with a 3-pointer on the first Big Red possession to give them their first lead of the game. Rubin then added a layup on the next Denison possession to make it a 36-33 Big Red lead.

It was a short-lived lead for the Big Red, however, as after a tough midrange jumper by Rubin tied it at 40-40 with 16:20 left to play, OWU went on an 8-0 run ending with a pair of 3-pointers to make it 48-40 until Scotty Dean stopped the run with a layup with just under 14 minutes to go.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Isaac Ward gave OWU a 12-point (60-48) lead with eight and half minutes remaining, but from there, a 6-0 Big Red run featuring a layup by Emmett Burnside and jumpers by Heath and Chase Ouellette on three straight possessions made it only a six-point margin (60-54) with just under six minutes to go.

Unfortunately, the Battling Bishops put the game out of reach with a 10-0 run to make it 70-54 with just under three minutes remaining. That run started with a pair of free throws by David Rice with just over five minutes left and ended with back-to-back scores by the North Coast Athletic Conference's leading scorer Jack Clement.

For Denison, Rubin finished with a game-high 16 points while Ricky Radtke had 15 points and six rebounds and Heath had 11 points.

OWU put four players into double figures in scoring, finished with nine made 3-pointers in the game and was 13-for-14 from the free throw line while Denison only had four free throw attempts in the game. The Battling Bishops also outrebounded the Big Red 44-29 overall and held a 16-8 advantage on second chance points despite only a three-rebound edge (12-9) on the offensive glass.

On a positive note, Denison finished with only two turnovers in the game and led 44-30 on points in the paint.

With the loss, Denison fell to 12-10 overall and 8-6 in the NCAC while OWU improved to 15-8 and reached the 10-win mark (10-4) in conference action.

Next up for Denison will be its final home game of the regular season as the Big Red take on the first-place team in the conference standings, the College of Wooster, starting at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 15, inside Livingston Gymnasium.