HIRAM, Ohio – The Allegheny men's basketball team was unable to complete a second half comeback, falling 69-57 at Hiram in a North Coast Athletic Conference contest.
 
Trailing by as many as 19 points with less than nine minutes left in regulation, the Gators twice cut the deficit into single digits, but they would go cold down the stretch as Hiram put the game away from the foul line.
 
With the loss, the Gators fall to 6-13 overall and 3-9 in the NCAC, while Hiram moves to 8-10 and 5-6 in conference play.
 
Freshman Jordan Rawls led three Gator scorers in double figures with a game-high 17 points, while senior Evan Zabriski added 11, and rookie Jamison Nee 10.  Rawls also pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds, but the Gators ended the night on the wrong end of a 47-35 deficit on the glass.
 
Four days removed from arguably its top performance of the season in Wednesday's 90-73 win over Kenyon, the Gator offense struggled in the loss to the Terriers.  Allegheny shot just 37 percent from the field (21-for-57), including a 2-for-19 showing from behind the three-point arc.  The Gators did own a 38-23 advantage in points in the paint, but it was negated by eight Hiram three-pointers.
 
After the two teams traded points in the early going, Hiram got hot from the outside, and took a 20-10 advantage at the midpoint of the first half after connecting on four three-pointers in a six-minute span, including three from Paul Ortiz.
 
A conventional three-point play from Rawls, followed by a bucket in the paint by Brendan O'Toole, pulled the Gators to within five, 20-15, with just over eight minutes left, but Hiram countered with a 10-2 run to push its advantage back into double figures, 30-17, with 5:51 to go.
 
Led by Zabriski, the Gators looked to cut into the deficit as the half wound down.  With 5:12 left, the veteran connected on a three-pointer, before he converted a traditional three-point play 40 seconds later to close the gap to 34-23 with 4:26 left.  Zack Pateras connected on a three ball with a minute left to make it a 10-point game, before Nee sunk a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to shrink the deficit to 40-32 at the intermission.
 
Both squads shot an identical 42 percent from the field over the opening 20 minutes, but the difference came from behind the arc, as Hiram connected on five three-pointers to the Gators' two. 
 
O'Toole scored twice in the first two minutes of the second half to keep the deficit at nine, but the Gators then went cold, as they were held to just two free throws and no field goals over the next eight minutes.  Hiram took advantage of the drought to open up a 59-40 lead with 9:37 remaining.
 
Allegheny gradually chipped away at the deficit.  Rawls and Conor Macomber each scored four points in a 90-second span to pull the Gators to within 61-48 with 7:18 remaining.  Thirty seconds later, Zabriski scored on a put-back, before Rawls scored on a pair of layups to cut the deficit into single digits, 63-54, with 4:02 to go.
 
The second Rawls bucket proved to be the Gators' penultimate field goal of the afternoon, however, and the team would get no closer.  Hiram would connect on five free throws over the final 80 seconds to thwart the comeback and earn the win.
 
Over the final 20 minutes, the Gators limited Hiram to just eight field goals in 26 attempts, but the Terriers connected on three three-pointers, while Allegheny came up empty from international waters.  Hiram also owned a second half edge in free throws, going 8-for-12 to Allegheny's 5-for-9 mark.
 
Ortiz, Terrence Williams, and Jeremiah Thomas each had 12 points to lead Hiram, while Kelvin Jones scored 11 points while grabbing a game-high 22 rebounds.  
 
The Gators will now have a six-day layoff before returning to action on Fri. Feb. 4, when they host NCAC foe DePauw at 6 p.m. in the Wise Center to kick off a busy weekend in which they will also welcome Wabash to Meadville for a Saturday matinee.