GAMBIER, Ohio – After trailing for most of Wednesday evening's game, the Muskingum University men's basketball team used the final five minutes to turn things around and hand the host Kenyon College Lords their first loss of the season. The visiting Muskies outscored the Lords 13-7 over those final minutes and escaped with a 79-77 non-conference win.

Kenyon (3-1) only fell behind for about one minute of first-half play. A three-pointer from Muskingum's Jalen Paige put the Muskies ahead 23-22. Not long after that, Kenyon sophomore Ben Stern drained his own three-ball to tie the game at 25-25 with 6:52 left on the clock. Ryan O'Neil and Carter Powell followed up with points to propel the Lords into halftime with 37-32 lead.

During those first 20 minutes, Stern, who finished with a career-high 27 points, paced Kenyon with a dozen.

The Lords kept a comfortable lead for most of the second half. Muskingum got as close as two points at 50-48, but over the next five minutes Kenyon got three-pointers from O'Neil, Stern and one more from Phillip Crampton, who gave the Lords their largest lead at 63-52 with 10:42 on the clock.

From that point, Muskingum guards Jarrell Marsh and Marcus Dempsey stepped up their games, rattling off seven straight points. Kenyon temporarily stopped the run with a Crampton jumper, but Mitch Clark logged seven of the game's next nine points to set up the Muskies' final run.

Marsh, who finished with game-highs of 29 points and 11 rebounds, scored five points in the game's final five minutes. In that same stretch, Dempsey scored four and Clark added three. Dempsey finished the game with 18 points. Clark scored 15.

Kenyon didn't go away quietly down the stretch. Stern sank two free throws with 1:43 left and then drained a jumper in the lane to give the Lords a 75-74 lead with 1:06 on the clock. Two Kenyon misses then opened the door for a Muskingum field goal and then a free throw on the next trip.

The Lords' next possession ended in a turnover and then a foul. Dempsey converted both free throws to finalize the Muskies' scoring. Kenyon came back with an easy Alex Laub layup and got the ball back on an errant Muskingum free-throw attempt at the other end. Matt Shifrin grabbed the rebound off that miss and raced up the court with about six seconds left. He drove down to the right block, but only manage an off-balance, desperation heave that veered off target as time expired.

The loss dampened a fantastic outing from Stern, who finished 8-of-16 overall, 4-of-8 from three-point range and 7-of-9 at the free throw line. In addition to his team-high 27 points, Stern added four rebounds, four assists and a couple of blocks.

O'Neil finished with 13 points, while Laub posted 11 points and seven rebounds. Powell nearly matched Laub, scoring 10 and grabbing seven boards.