Sophomore post Grant Gossard scored to give Ohio Wesleyan a 66-65 lead with 4:15 left in regulation time, but Hiram scored the final 7 points of the game to take a North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Bishops on Wednesday in Hiram.

During the game, senior guard Nate Axelrod broke the Ohio Wesleyan career record he shared with Andy Winters (2009-13).

After Gossard's basket put the Bishops ahead, Hiram answered with a lay-in by Terrence Warren, and on the Terriers' next possession, Jalen Kirksey connected on a jumper that gave the hosts a 69-66 lead with 3:32 to play.

The defenses took over from there, with neither team scoring for more than 3 minutes.  Ohio Wesleyan had 3 different looks at a game-tying 3-pointer, and on the other end, the Terriers missed 5 shots in a row before Austin Blatt connected on a 3-pointer with :13 left that sealed the outcome.

It was a one-possession game for the first 10 minutes of play, with senior post Adam O'Brien hitting a 3-pointer to give the Bishops a 19-18 lead with 9:42 left in the first half.  Hiram then went on an 8-0 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by Brevin Dye.

Ohio Wesleyan countered with 3-pointers from senior wing Will Orr and sophomore guard Jared Gerber, and pulled even when a pair of Gerber free throws tied the score at 31 with 2:11 to play in the period.

Orr buried a 3-pointer to open the second-half scoring and give the Bishops a 37-35 lead, but Hiram went on a 12-0 run that included 2 buckets apiece by Kirksey and Warren, with Warren's second bucket giving the hosts a 47-37 lead with 15:35 to go.

The Bishops chipped away at the deficit with a 6-0 burst that included a pair of Gossard hoops and a later 7-0 run that featured a lay-in and a 3-pointer by senior guard Seth Clark, the latter giving Ohio Wesleyan a 62-61 lead at the 7:48 mark and setting up the nailbiting final 5 minutes.

Axelrod led the Bishops with 6 assists, raising his career total to 622 and breaking the Ohio Wesleyan career record of 616 he had shared going into the contest.

Gerber scored a team-high 14 points, Clark had 12 points and a team-best 6 rebounds, Orr scored 12 points, O'Brien finished with a career-high 11 points, and Gossard added 11 points.

Kirksey led Hiram with 22 points.