By: Colton Steiner
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball team hosted the Kenyon College Owls on Tuesday, Nov. 26, to kick off the Thanksgiving break. After a strong finish to the first half for the Beavers, they were able to hold off a second half surge from the Owls en route to their first win of the season, an 83-74 win. This victory puts Bluffton at 1-4 on the year while the Owls drop to 1-5 overall.
After the vusitors jumped out to a 7-3 lead, a Kelvin Turner (Cincinnati/Lakota West) three at the 16:22 mark would pull the Beavers within one. Immediately following the Turner bucket, Kenyon answered with an 8-0 run to jump ahead 15-6 with 12:34 left in the half. With the Owls leading 24-18, Bluffton would score seven unanswered as a Michael Stammen (Versailles) triple put the home team ahead 25-24 at the 4:00 mark of the first half. The Beavers would play lockdown defense to close out the half, outscoring the Kenyon 10-2, going into the break with a 35-26 advantage.
Kenyon cut the Beaver lead down to seven, but Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern) knocked down a shot from behind the arc to make it 42-32 in favor of Bluffton. No matter what the Owls did, Bluffton would answer with a made shot of their own, until 11:49 left in the second half when a layup brought Kenyon within five, 51-46. After Caden Slusher (Rockford/Parkway) knocked down a triple from the wing, Connor Martin (Holland/Springfield) converted an old-fashioned three point play to make it 57-46 with 10:54 remaining in regulation.
The two teams would go back and forth until a deep three from Caden Slusher and a Nevin Robson jumper put the Beavers up 69-56 with under six to play. A 6-2 run from the Owls pulled the visitors within six at the 4:20 mark, but a pair of successful free throws from Nevin Robson made it 74-66 in favor of Bluffton. Although Kenyon trimmed its deficit to four, the visitors were unable to cut the lead any more as the Beavers would go 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final 1:10 for an 83-74 victory.
Bluffton knocked down 27-of-59 (45.8 percent) from the field, including a very respectable 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from downtown. The Beavers were able to force 14 Owl turnovers that would lead to 15 points and they also finished with a 29-19 advantage in bench points.
Nevin Robson was a man among boys, carrying the Beavers with 23 points, one off his career high, on a blistering 7-of-8 from the field and 7-of-8 from the foul line. He also snagged six boards and dished out three assists. Sihr Sumner (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) would notch his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs. He was a pert 6-of-8 from the field. Also scoring for the home team was Ian Snelling with nine and Caden Slusher with eight which equaled his career best. Matt Ray (Indianapolis, Ind./Herron) dished out four assists for the victors.
The Beavers will be off for Thanksgiving Break until Wednesday, Dec. 4, when they kick off conference play with a road contest at Mount St. Joseph. Tip-off tin Cincinnati is set for 7:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-