The men’s basketball team fell to the Kenyon College Lords at home Wednesday night, with a final score of 50–65. Although it looked as if the Yeomen could put the game away in the first half, the Lords came back late to steal the victory.

Down 3–10 early in the game, the Yeomen changed their pace, and junior Emmanuel Lewis’s lay-up gave Oberlin a 13–12 lead with 10 minutes left in the first half. The two teams battled for the lead, with neither team leading by more than four points.

Kenyon’s Brian Lebowitz suffered the biggest embarrassment of the game with his fast-break into an awkward lay-up-dunk hybrid. Unable to make a decision, he failed his attempt, causing an eruption of cheers and laughter from Oberlin fans. With two minutes left and down 22–24, first- year Randy Ollie added three pivotal points off a fouled lay-up that was fed to him by senior Andrew Fox. One of Fox’s own shots followed with only six seconds left, tying the game 27–27 at the half.

The Lords came back out with a fire that the Yeomen were unfortunately unable to match, surrendering a 17–2 run that put them behind by 15, 29–44.

The score, however, did not hold the Yeomen back. They came back twice to narrow the gap to seven, but each time Oberlin could not get ahead. Sophomore Miles Gueno was instrumental in their second comeback, receiving a fast-break pass that was wrestled away from the Lords by junior Geoff Simpson.

Simpson was an essential playmaker in each of the Yeomen comebacks and contributed eight points and six rebounds. “What cost us was turnovers and offensive rebounding,” he said. “The turnovers led to layups and easy points for them. Even though in the first half we came out slow, we did a good job bouncing back with the defense carrying us.”

Citing the main difference between Kenyon and Oberlin, Simpson said, “Last night they were just tougher than we were. They were the ones that got the loose balls. If it got tipped around, they were the ones who grabbed it.”

The Yeomen look to turn things around with a win on a road game against DePauw University by changing some of their offensive tactics.

“Against DePauw we’re looking for more of the same on defense. For the offense, we need to change up so we can get easier points, so we’re going to spend the next couple of days looking at new switch-ups. This far in the season, we’re so well scouted that you have to change up offensive sets. With DePauw we also need to focus on the match-ups and a different attack that will work well for us,” Simpson said.

The game is set for 3 p.m. this Saturday.