Meadville, PA – The Oberlin College Yeomen and Allegheny College Gators needed 55 minutes of action to determine a winner and in the end it was the visiting Yeomen who left town with a 95-94 triple-overtime victory on Wednesday night at Mullens Arena.
 
Junior Joshua Friedkin hit an off-balance one-footed jumper from the far elbow with 2.3 seconds to go to put the Yeomen out in front by two, 95-93. However, after the play the Yeomen were whistled for a technical foul for players leaving the bench area. Thankfully, Billy Urso split the charity tosses – missing the first. The Gators still had life though as they drew up a beautifully designed in-bounds play that appeared to give Brian Roberts a chance at a potential game-winning 3-pointer but Christian Fioretti came flying in from behind to reject his shot and secure the win for Oberlin.
 
No more than five points separated the two foes throughout the three extra frames. It appeared that the Gators were going to escape in the second overtime as the Yeomen trailed by two in the closing seconds with Eli Silverman-Lloyd's rushed 3-point attempt being well off the mark but Jordan Armstrong was there to corral the miss and lay it back in at the buzzer to keep the Yeomen alive.
 
In the first overtime, a strong finish inside by Friedkin tied the game at 74 with 15 ticks still to expire and the Gators had a great chance to win it as Lamar Todd slithered his way through the paint only to see his would-be game-winning layup roll off the rim.
 
Friedkin scored 14 of his team-high 25 points in the overtime periods, going 5-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-2 at the free throw line. All five Yeomen starters played over 40 minutes and finished in double figures. Silverman-Lloyd and Andre Campbell each added 19 points with the latter of the pair adding 10 rebounds as well. Armstrong posted 13 points and Fioretti chipped in 11 points to accompany his career-high tying 10-assist effort for his first double-double of the year.
 
Oberlin faced an eight-point halftime deficit but battled back to tie it at 43 on one of five Friedkin triple-hits with 13:41 left to play in the second half. No more than four points would separate the two foes the rest of regulation but Oberlin never once took the lead despite tying the game eight more times in the half. The most import squaring of the match came on acrobatic driving layup from Fioretti with 38 ticks left. Oberlin would then fend off three Allegheny chances to send the game to overtime tied at 66.
 
The Yeomen struggled to connect in the first half, hitting on just nine of 36 shots in the session but still managed to stay within striking distance. The Gators built up a 19-9 lead midway through the frame but a personal 5-0 response from Fioretti cut the deficit in half with 9:35 left to play.
 
The Gators answered right back with a 14-4 burst of their own to balloon the lead out to 15, 33-18, at the 4:44 mark. However, the Oberlin defense would buckle down and hold Allegheny scoreless the rest of the way while closing the stanza with seven straight points, five of which came courtesy of Armstrong.
 
The Yeomen shot 38.9 percent (35-of-90) in the game, which included just an 8-of-33 (24.2%) showing from beyond the arc. Oberlin did make up for it at the free throw line, cashing in 17 of the 20 freebies they hoisted for an 85 percent success rate.
 
The victory ran the Yeomen's record to 12-10 on the year and 8-7 in the NCAC, tying the school record for most league wins in a season, which happened in the 1991-92 campaign.
 
Oberlin will conclude the home portion of its regular-season schedule on Saturday afternoon against the Hiram College Terriers. Tip-time is set for 3 p.m.