MEADVILLE, Pa. – Ugnius Zilinskas scored a game-high 30 points and the Kenyon College men's basketball team held Jordan Rawls to just nine points, yet the host Allegheny College Gators were able to hold off the Lords, 68-66, in Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference contest at the Wise Center.

Zilinskas, a junior who averaged 16.3 points per game, went 12-of-19 overall, 2-of-2 from three-point range and 4-of-4 at the free throw line against Allegheny. His stat line also included four rebounds and a pair of assists.

Rawls, an Allegheny senior, entered the game as the conference's second leading scorer, tossing in an average of 20.4 points per game. The Kenyon defense, however, held him to a 3-of-10 shooting performance and halted his streak of double-digit scoring marks at 27 games. Rawls did find other ways to contribute, grabbing eight rebounds and serving up six assists.

Kenyon (5-8 overall, 2-4 NCAC) was never knocked out of the game, the Lords just couldn't mount enough of a run to make a difference. There were five occasions in which the score was tied and ten more in which the lead changed hands. The Lords led by as many as eight in the first half and trailed by as many as six in the second half.

Zilinskas scored 11 of his 30 points in the first half and sparked a 14-3 run that gave the Lords a 22-14 advantage with 10:57 showing on the clock. Zilinskas scored five points in the run and freshman Kase Cronin scored four.

The Gators (9-4, 3-3 NCAC) came right back with a 13-2 run that got them to the break with a 34-32 lead. Both Caden Hinckley and Brock Brumfield scored four in that run. Nijon Kirkman added a three-pointer at the end of the half to give the Gators their two-point cushion.

The teams went back-and-forth in the second half and it wasn't until the final moments that the game was decided.

Zilinskas tied the game at 61-61 with 3:20 left, but the Gators scored the next five points on a three-pointer from Keeno Holmes and a pair of free throws from Jordan Greynolds. Kenyon twice managed to cut the lead back down to two, but Zilinskas' final shot to tie the game bounced off the rim and was rebounded by Rawls.

In addition to Zilinskas' output, the Lords got eight points from Cronin and 11 from Ryan O'Neil. The Kenyon men shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) overall, but just 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from long range.

Greynolds ended up leading Allegheny with 20 points. Hinckley and Holmes each scored 14. The Gators struggled at the free throw line, going 6-of-13 (46.2 percent), but connected on 10-of-28 (35.7 percent) three-point attempts.