At the start of February, the men’s basketball team found themselves on the outside looking in of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, with five tough games to close out the season.
The team’s goal of reaching the tournament for their fourth straight season seemed to slip further away after dropping two tight games to DePauw University and John Carroll University. Their fate was no longer in their hands. In order to clinch a playoff berth, they would have to win out while hoping teams ahead of them lost.
Instead of losing hope at how muddied their road to the playoffs had become, they found motivation. Second-year guard Robert Magner felt confident in how well they had played despite the losses.
“We were coming off two close games that we felt we could have won before the stretch,” Magner said. “We were feeling good about beating anyone in the league.”
On Feb. 14, they started their run with an upset win against the Wittenberg University Tigers during their Senior Day. The Yeomen started out hot, taking a 32–21 lead at half and holding on to win 58–57. Third-year guard JJ Gray was the best player on the court that day, putting up 19 points with five rebounds, six assists, and two steals, notably shooting 40 percent from behind the arc.
The Yeomen got back to work, traveling to Kenyon College four days later where they would avenge a loss earlier in the season with a 19-point blowout win. Fourth-years Zach Smith and Milun Micanovic both put up 18 points, with Micanovic shooting a hyper-efficient 86 percent from the field and 75 percent from three, along with eight rebounds and two blocks. The team’s defense was on point once again, holding their opponent to under 60 points for the second straight game in the 78–59 win.
The Yeomen would enter the final game of the regular season, their senior day, needing a win against Wabash College and a College of Wooster loss against DePauw to qualify. They had lost to Wabash earlier this season in overtime; however, they were able to ride their momentum into the final game, defeating the Little Giants 65–60.
Smith and Gray took this game over, determined to keep their careers at Oberlin alive. Smith scored the most of any player on either team in this game, exploding for a 21-point performance that saw him shoot 46 percent from the field and 50 percent from three.
Gray scored the second-most, with 15 points on 50 percent shooting and a perfect performance from deep, making all three of his three-point attempts to go along with seven rebounds. The Yeomen’s defense stifled another opponent’s top scorer, holding him to a shooting percentage of 36 and only 25 percent from beyond the arc.
After handling their business, the locker room anxiously waited to hear about the result of Wooster’s game from their coach. Head Coach Shiva Senthil walked into the locker room and let the team know their fate. The Tigers defeated the Fighting Scots 67–55, meaning Oberlin had booked their ticket to the tournament. The locker room erupted in celebration and dancing — their hard work had paid off.
They were matched up with John Carroll for the third time this season and were tasked with slowing down a red-hot Blue Streak offense averaging 90.8 points per game, the #1 scoring offense in the NCAC and #11 in the entire country for Division III.
However, the Yeomen had proven their defensive ability ahead of this game. They were not focused on changing anything about themselves to stop the Blue Streaks. Instead, they focused on the attitude and system that allowed them to catch fire to end the season.
“It was a focus on our attitude heading into a playoff stretch and getting back to our base defensive identity of being heavy in the gaps and taking away the paint,” Magner said when asked what adjustments were made on this run.
This approach turned out to be successful, as the Yeomen would hold John Carroll 13 points under their average, leading to their third-lowest score of the entire season. Their resiliency showed once again as they started the second half down 41–32 but clawed back, ultimately outscoring the Blue Streaks 41–36 in the second half. However, it wasn’t enough. The Yeomen fell to the Blue Streaks, 77–73. Gray and Smith competed in their last game for the Crimson and Gold count, scoring 19 and 16 respectively. Gray had seven assists, while Smith added seven rebounds, matching his season high.
Although the season didn’t end exactly how they wanted, there is more than enough for this team to be proud of and look forward to in the future. This group of seniors became the winningest class in school history. Filling in the gap that this class will leave behind will be a tall task; however, the nine freshmen brought in this year will help lessen the blow.
Although this specific team will not play together again, the culture that the group of seniors has helped build will continue to guide the program’s trajectory forward, teaching the returners what it takes to turn their talent into success.
