Meadville, Pa. – Rookie Emmanuel Lewis hit four free throws in the closing seconds and five players scored in double figures as the Oberlin College men's basketball team snapped a 19-game losing streak by defeating Allegheny College 72-68 in overtime on Thursday night.

The victory also marked the first win for the Yeomen against the Gators since February 16, 2005 and their first in Meadville since 1995.

"Obviously it feels great to get this win and get the monkey off our back so to speak," Head Coach Isaiah Cavaco said. "We got a great contribution from everyone on the team and they fought their tails off to get this win. These guys have been working so hard all year and they really deserve this."

Sophomore Andrew Fox led the way with his second straight double-double as he finished 13 points and 12 rebounds. The senior class of Pat Bernhard and James Tompsett also played a large role off the bench as Bernhard cashed in 3-of-4 triple-tries en route to scoring 13 points, while Tompsett added a season-high 11. Sophomore Charlie Crawford-Silva added 12 points and Josh Merritt chipped in with 10. Futhermore, the Yeomen got a great all-around effort from Geoff Simpson as he finished six points, four rebounds and five assists.

After 40 minutes of action the Gators and Yeomen were knotted up at 58. It was a Merritt triple-hit with 1:59 to go in regulation that forced the extra session.

In overtime it was another three-ball by Merritt that made it a 64-60 OC advantage with 2:29 left on the clock. After three free throws by Allegheny, the junior from San Francisco, California, would raise up and knock down his third straight triple to make it 67-64 with 54 seconds to go.

Following another pair of Devone McLeod free throws to make it a two-point game, 67-65, Lewis would calmly go to the line and reciprocate by cashing in his two free throw attempts with 26 ticks left.

After two missed jumpers by the Gators, Tompsett corralled the rebound and went on to split a pair of charity tosses. A 3-pointer by McLeod gave the Gators life, but just two seconds remained. However, Lewis would close the door for good by making two more free throws to secure the win.

Oberlin, which went 6-of-8 at the line overtime, could have avoided the extra frame all together had they made more free throws in the second half. After going 6-of-7 during the first 20 minutes, OC went just 5-of-11 at the stripe in the second half.

In the first half it was the Yeomen who got off to quick start with an 11-2 run out of the gates. However, Allegheny battled back to shrink Oberlin's cushion to just one at the break, 29-28.

In the second half no more than five points separated the two teams, however, one of those five-point cushions came in the form of a 58-53 Allegheny advantage with 3:55 remaining. However, the Yeomen were able to keep the Gators off the scoreboard the rest of the way. One of the key defensive stops came with just one second left as Crawford-Silva took a charge as Bobby Theiss was driving to the hoop.

The Yeomen (2-19, 1-11 NCAC) had their best shooting night of the season as they checked in at 52.2 percent (24-of-46) overall while also converting a season-high 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from downtown.

Oberlin's stingy defense limited the Gators to just 38.5 percent (20-of-52) shooting. In the second half and overtime Allegheny made just 10-of-30 (33.3%) attempts.

The Gators (5-15, 2-10 NCAC) were paced by a game-high 26 points from James Ness.

Oberlin will have a quick turnaround when it travels south to take on Denison University on Saturday afternoon. Tip-time is set for 3 p.m.