OXFORD, Ohio – Kenyon College (0-1) opened its season with a 68-47 loss at Miami University Tuesday night in a non-conference men's basketball game at Millett Hall. It was the first time since November 20, 2006 against Eastern Kentucky that Kenyon faced off against a division one opponent.
 
Bennett Grigull led the Lords with a career-best 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting with all of his makes coming from three-point range. Senior Brien Comey added eight points, three rebounds and a steal in 20 minutes of work before fouling out in the second half. Chris Link came off the bench to score six points while three more players chipped in with five: Phillip Crampton, Tim Connolly and freshman Matt Shifrin.
 
Nearly six minutes into the first half, both teams were slow to find much offensive rhythm as the RedHawks led 9-6 after a Link layup.
 
The score was brought to 14-10 with 11:43 left after sophomore Alex Laub finished around the rim. But the early tussle was erased by RedHawks sophomore Rod Mills.
 
With the four-point lead, Mills began a 15-0 run with a three-pointer. Two possessions later, Mills hit another long ball to push Miami up double-digits 22-10. During the 15-0 run, Kenyon turned it over six times while missing all four of its field goals. The RedHawks seized a 29-10 lead with 5:49 left.
 
Kenyon got out of its funk to close the first half with an 11-5 spurt. Shifrin buried a three-ball from the right corner to bring the score to 31-21 with just under two minutes left and went to halftime down 34-21.
 
The RedHawks' length and athleticism helped force 13 first-half turnovers for Kenyon which was converted into 14 points. Mills scored 10 in the opening frame.
 
Second-half action didn't yield any comeback for the Lords who saw the RedHawks lead go up as many as 26 points following a Chris Bryant layup with 9:32 left.
 
Towards the latter part of the contest, the Lords received some contributions from Tyler Kimble who hit a three from the right wing with 48 seconds left while Grigull added a pair of shots from beyond the arc.
 
Kenyon will remain on the road this coming weekend when they travel to Beaver Falls, Penn., to face Grove City College on Nov. 20 and Geneva College on the 21.