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Kenyon College Athletics

Murathan Kocaman
Graham Stokes
71
Mt. St. Joseph MSJ 2-8,2-2 HCAC
74
Winner Kenyon Kenyon 3-8,2-1 NCAC
Mt. St. Joseph MSJ
2-8,2-2 HCAC
71
Final
74
Kenyon Kenyon
3-8,2-1 NCAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Mt. St. Joseph MSJ 29 42 71
Kenyon Kenyon 36 38 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Season-best shooting propels Owls over Lions

GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College men's basketball team shot a season-high 62.8 percent (27-of-43) Tuesday afternoon and fought off multiple second-half rallies from the Mount Saint Joseph University Lions. The Owls' combination of accuracy and resiliency resulted in a 74-71 home win.

After starting the season with seven straight losses, Kenyon has now chalked up wins in three of its last four contests and sits at 3-8 overall. On the other side of the court, the defeat dropped Mount Saint Joseph to 2-8.

Led by first-year center Murathan Kocaman, the Owls shot 68.2 percent (15-of-22) in the first half of play. The Kenyon men trailed only for the first few minutes of play, but five straight points from Murathan, followed by a fast-break dunk from Dylan Fuerst put the Owls ahead 9-5.

Mount Saint Joseph later tied the game at 11, but never regained the lead.

Murathan had ten points in the first half and helped construct a Kenyon advantage that grew to as many as 13 points. The Lions, however, went on a 6-0 spurt to close out the frame and trailed 36-29 at the half.

Gefen Bar-Cohen opened the second half with five points and got the Kenyon lead back out to 13. Again, though, Mount Saint Joseph would not fade away. Ten different times the Lions reduced their deficit to four points and all 10 times Kenyon had a response.

It wasn't until there were 16 seconds remaining in the game that Mount Saint Joseph got closer than four points. At that moment, Jack Kolar nailed a three-pointer to make the score 72-69. On the ensuing play, Kenyon broke the Lions' press and scored an easy layup at the other end with just five seconds left. The Lions then dropped in a meaningless layup as time expired to make the final margin three.

Murathan was 6-of-10 and scored 17 points, giving him his second career-best scoring output in his last two games. He canned a pair of three-pointers, went 3-of-4 at the line and also grabbed six rebounds for the Owls.

Bar-Cohen was 7-of-11 from the floor, scored 16 points and matched Murathan's rebound total. Kenyon's other double-digit scorer was Fuerst, who finished with 13 points on a 6-of-7 shooting performance. His stat line also included four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.

For Mount Saint Joseph, Luke Collinsworth struggled in the first half, going 2-of-8 with multiple missed layups, but he recuperated in the final 20 minutes of play and ended up with a game-high 24 points. Kolar finished with 16 and Matthew Menninger contributed 13.

Kenyon has one more game left in the calendar year and that contest is slated for Thursday, when the Owls will host Chatham University at 3 p.m.
 
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