Oberlin, Ohio - Josh Merritt surpassed the 1,000-point plateau, and senior classmate Danny Enright provided the game-winning bucket as the Oberlin College men's basketball team upended the visiting Gators of Allegheny College, 63-62, on Wednesday night at Philips Gym.
 
Merritt's 3-point make with 4:52 left in the first half proved to be his milestone basket as he became the 20^th player in school history to notch 1,000-career points.
 
Andrew Fox continued to be a double-double machine as he led the way with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Merritt finished with 12 points and Geoff Simpson checked in with 11. However, it was Enright who was the star as he netted a career-high 10 points to go along with six rebounds.
 
With the win Oberlin improved to 6-8 overall – matching the most wins in a season in the Isaiah Cavaco era. OC also went to 1-4 in the NCAC, while Allegheny dropped to 2-12 and 0-5 in the league.
 
In the first half Oberlin trailed 17-12 at the 13:32 mark, but used an 11-5 run that was capped by Merritt's historic 3-pointer to grab a 28-23 lead. In a half that featured five lead changes and five ties, the Yeomen would go into the locker room up 32-30.
 
In the second half, Oberlin built up leads of eight on four separate occasions, but the Gators would not go away quietly. The Yeomen had a 59-51 cushion with 3:45 to go, but eight free throw makes by the Gators cut Oberlin's lead down to two, 61-59, with 1:09 remaining.
 
Following a missed layup by Oberlin, the Gators called a timeout and drew up a set play for David DiBernardi who cashed in a 3-ball from the far corner to give Allegheny its first lead of the half, 62-61, with just 24 seconds to play.
 
On the final possession, Merritt attacked the rim, but had his layup blocked out of bounds. With 10 seconds left on the clock, Coach Cavaco called timeout and went to the dry-erase board and designed a picture perfect play that resulted in Enright getting open down low for the game-winning layup.
 
With two seconds still remaining D'Andre Corbin was able to heave up a half-court shot that drew some iron and the backboard, but luckily not the bottom of the net.
 
Oberlin shot 43.6-percent (24-of-55) in the win, while Allegheny checked in at 42-percent (21-of-50).
 
The Yeomen will look to build off of the thrilling win when they return to action on Saturday afternoon at Wabash College. Tip of is set for 1 p.m.