Hiram 77, Ohio Wesleyan 73

Jan. 11, 2009

Senior wing Kyle Holliday (Van Wert) hit a pair of 3-pointers as Ohio Wesleyan shaved a 9-point second-half deficit to a single marker, but Hiram withstood the Bishop rally and escaped Branch Rickey Arena with a North Coast Athletic Conference win on Sunday.

The Terriers had taken a 64-55 lead on a lay-in by Chris Roberts with 9:00 left in regulation time, but Holliday answered with a pair of free throws on Ohio Wesleyan's next possession, and later hit another pair of free throws to bring the Bishops within 66-61 with 6:07 to go.

After a Bishop stop, Holliday buried a 3-pointer to make it a 66-64 game with just under 5 minutes to go, and after a Roberts lay-in, Holliday hit another 3-pointer to bring Ohio Wesleyan within 68-67 with just over 4 minutes to play.

Ohio Wesleyan was still within 70-69 and had 2 possessions with a chance to take the lead but misfired both times, and the Terriers got some breathing room when Ian Pfouts hit a 3-pointer with 1:44 left and sank the front end of a one-and-one with 1:10 to play.

Holliday scored on a putback and was fouled on the play with :56 left, but Holliday missed the free throw, and in the scramble for the rebound, Pfouts was fouled and hit the first charity shot for a 75-71 Terrier lead with :52 remaining.

On the Bishops' next possession, freshman post Pat Pellerite (Olmsted Falls) scored off a feed from junior guard Rob Gardiner (Dublin/Coffman) and was fouled on the play, bringing the Bishops within 75-73 with :43 left. Pellerite missed the free throw, but kept the loose ball alive and the ball went out of bounds off a Terrier player, giving the Bishops the ball and a chance to tie or take the lead.

Holliday got off a jumper with :14 left, and senior wing Mitch Noggle (Dublin/Coffman) ran down the rebound in the right corner, but the Bishops were not able to get off another shot and Roberts came up with a loose ball near midcourt and was fouled with :01 left, then hit both free throws to account for the 77-73 final.

The Terriers seized the momentum early in the game. Just under 3 minutes into the action, Hiram's Babajide Eniola was fouled and missed both free throws. Hiram's Deon Milton rebounded the second miss, scored and was fouled on the play. Milton missed the ensuing free throw, only to see Eniola come up with that offensive rebound and score on a putback to give the Terriers a 6-4 lead.

Ohio Wesleyan overcame that stretch to take a 16-14 lead on a lay-in by sophomore post Andrew Martin (New Albany), and the teams were deadlocked a total of 8 times during the first half before Hiram opened up a 40-34 lead in the closing seconds.

Freshman wing Tim Brady (Dublin/Jerome) put an exclamation point on the first half, stealing the ball after a Hiram rebound of a Bishop miss and then scoring just before the buzzer to make it a 40-36 game at the break.

Ohio Wesleyan closed to within a basket on 5 different occasions during the early moments of the second half, but Hiram had an answer each time. The last time, the Terriers went on a 7-0 run that included a pair of Eniola free throws, a Nick Russo 3-pointer and the Roberts lay-in that gave Hiram the 64-55 lead.

Holliday led the Bishops with 22 points, scoring 14 of those during the second half, shared the team lead with 8 boards and dished out a team-high 5 assists. Junior post Brent Pleiman (Russia) finished with 18 points and Pellerite finished with 15 points and shared the team lead with 8 rebounds.

Pfouts led Hiram with 16 points, Roberts added 14 points and Eniola finished with 11 points.

Box Score