DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University (6-3, 4-0 NCAC) tallied its most points this season as they knocked off Kenyon College (2-6, 1-3 NCAC) 96-85 on Saturday afternoon in a North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Branch Rickey Arena.
 
The Battling Bishops shot 50 percent from the field and doubled up the Lords in the three-point shooting department as the home team hit 14 compared to seven for Kenyon.
 
For the fourth time this season, Phillip Crampton led the Lords in scoring as he tied for the game-high with 21 points. He also tied for the game-high with six rebounds. Freshman Ben Stern came off the bench and tied his season-best with 16 points including a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range while Carter Powell added 15, the most for him this season. Rounding out Kenyon's double-digit scoring efforts was Matt Shifrin who tallied 10 points and five assists.
 
As a team, the Lords were excellent at the foul line converting 26-of-30 (86.7%).
 
Nearly nine minutes into the first half, the Lords found themselves down 19-14 following a layup from OWU's Jaret Gerber. A quick 6-0 spurt changed that though as Bennett Grigull started the stretch with a free throw and a couple possessions later, Stern drained a three-ball pushing the Lords ahead 20-19.
 
The score remained close over the next few minutes before Kenyon got another lead. With 7:08 left in the half, Shifrin scored from beyond the arc and the Lords went up again 29-28. Following that make though, OWU went on an 11-2 run capped off by an and-one conversion from Grant Gossard with five minutes left.
 
Down 39-31, Stern got the Lords to within four points (39-35) after a layup with 3:57 remaining, but OWU closed the half scoring 11 of the 17 points and taking a 50-41 lead. The 50 points allowed by Kenyon in the opening half were the most given up this season.
 
In the second half, Ohio Wesleyan maintained a decent lead throughout and got its biggest margin (79-62) with 8:24 left as Law Jones hit the home team's 12th three-pointer.
 
The Lords got the game to a seven-point deficit on a pair of occasions with under a minute left. Alexander Powell hit two free throws with 56 seconds left (90-83) and Shifrin scored a layup with 46 ticks left (92-85), but that was the closest Kenyon got in the second half.
 
Kenyon will try and snap its two-game losing streak on December 19 when they venture to Wittenberg University for a 7:30 p.m. conference game.