Four times Wabash narrowed the Oberlin lead to one possession in the second half but could not find a way past the Yeomen in a 75-67 road loss.
 
Oberlin led for all but two minutes of the contest using hot shooting from inside and out to claim its third North Coast Athletic Conference victory of the season while handing Wabash its second straight loss. The Yeomen connected on 29-of-46 shot attempts (63 percent) including 9-of-14 from three-point range (64.3 percent).
 
"This is a really disappointing loss," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "I just didn't feel like we were very sharp. I didn't feel like our effort and our intensity was where it has been or where it needs to be until we were going to lose. The guys let a light switch flip on once we were down 15 points with very little time left. That's a disappointing feeling to have. I know they're disappointed."
 
Wabash took an early lead off a basket by Daniel Purvlicis for a 2-0 lead. Oberlin followed with a 6-0 run for its first lead of the game before the Little Giants responded, eventually grabbing a 9-8 advantage on another Purvlicis basket, part of his game-high 22-point effort.
 
The Little Giants stayed even with Oberlin over the next minute before the Yeomen mounted its first run of the game. Oberlin took the lead on a three-pointer by Scott Miller and would never trail again, stretching its advantage to as many as nine points before three-pointers by Kyle Aiton and Austin Burton cut the lead to 34-33 at halftime.
 
Burton provided the only points in the opening minutes of the second period, connecting on a pair of jumpers and a free throw in an effort to keep Wabash close while the Yeomen began to pull away. Miller, Nathan Cohen, and Matt Walker led Oberlin to a 10-point lead in the early minutes of the second half. Wabash whittled the lead to three with 11 minutes left on another layup by Purvlicis, then answered an Ian Campbell to once again stay within three with another Purvlicis shot. Aiton and Purvlicis continued to answer baskets by the Yeomen to trail 56-53 with 6:39 remaining.
 
The Yeomen took control from there, outscoring Wabash 12-0 over the next three minutes for a 15-point lead.
 
Wabash shot 25-of-58 (43.1 percent) from the field. Burton finished with 18 points in addition to the 22 for Purvlicis. Aiton added 16 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Little Giants.
 
Cohen hit 7-of-10 shots from the field and led Oberlin (7-10, 3-7 NCAC) with 19 points. Walker connected on 8-of-10 shots for 16 points. Zach Meyers chipped in with 13. Oberlin played with its leading scorer for season. Jack Poyle, averaging 14.1 points a contest, missed his fourth consecutive game.
 
Turnovers also hampered Wabash for the second consecutive game. After committing 14 turnovers in Wednesday's 75-58 loss at DePauw, the Little Giants gave away 15 turnovers in the Saturday loss at Oberlin.
 
"The turnover thing was a problem the other day (in the loss to DePauw)," Brumett said. "It's been a problem in most of our losses. We've got to have a guy who wants the ball; a guy who wants to step up. The ball doesn't move around and when you get it to that place you have two or three guys who are chomping at the bit to say, 'hey, let me be open.' Because of that when they're open they're trying to do something other than shoot. Often times --- too often --- that becomes a turnover.
 
Wabash (11-6, 6-4) returns to Chadwick Court Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Wittenberg University (6-11, 4-6). The Tigers are tied for fifth place in the NCAC standings after a 59-38 home win over Allegheny Saturday and trails the third-place Little Giants by two games.