GAMBIER, Ohio – The Muskingum University Fighting Muskies outscored Kenyon College by 13 points in the second half of Saturday's basketball game and walked away with 83-67 victory to spoil the Lords' home opener at Tomsich Arena.

The two teams battled closely in the first half of play, but Muskingum junior guard Marcus Dempsey proved to the difference, as he canned a trio of three-pointers and went 6-of-6 at the free throw line, giving Muskingum a slight 34-31 lead at halftime.

As the first half was winding down, Kenyon freshman Nick Lewis collected a pass from senior Ryan O'Neil, drained a three-pointer, and tied the game with just 14 seconds left on the clock. Dempsey then returned the favor with just two seconds left, draining his third three-pointer to put the Muskies ahead by three at the break.

Kenyon (1-1) made the right adjustments in the second half and held Dempsey to a 3-for-10 shooting performance. He did, however, mange to get to the free throw line five times. He made all five of those freebies and finished with a game-high 30 points.

While the Lords tempered Dempsey's hot shooting in the second half, fellow Muskingum guard Trey Singleton rose to the occasion. Singleton scored just four points in the first half, but went 5-for-9, including a trio of three-pointers, in the second half. He ended up scoring 17 points over those final 20 minutes to keep the Muskies ahead for good.

With Dempsey and Singleton leading the way, the Muskies' outside shooting was the difference in the game. In addition to their contributions, M. J. Smith and Tyler Bardall added a pair of three-balls, as Muskingum was 11-of-31 (35.5 percent) for the game. While that mark may not seem like a significant number, Kenyon, on the other hand, struggled from outside the arc, shooting 5-of-24 (20.8 percent).

The Lords held a few leads in the first half, including a 27-23 advantage when Elijah Davis hit a jumper with 3:07 left in the period. Dempsey, however, scored six of Muskingum's next 11 points to put the Muskies up by three at the break.

Davis ended up going 10-of-18 and scored a team-high 22 points for the Lords. O'Neill went 5-of-9 and tacked on 12 points, but no other Kenyon player reached double-digit scoring marks.

Muskingum (1-0) went ahead by as many as 14 points in the second half. Kenyon cut that lead down to six with 7:54 left in the game, but would not get any closer than the rest of the way.