DELAWARE, Ohio—The Allegheny College men's basketball closed their 2017-18 season with a 99-64 loss at Ohio Wesleyan University in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) action Saturday (Feb. 17).
The Gators end their 2017-18 campaign with a 5-20 overall record and a 2-16 mark in NCAC play.
Jordan Rawls led the Gators offense on the day with a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double, his fourth of the season.
Nijon Kirkman scored 11 points with seven rebounds and had a team-high four assists.
Brendan O'Toole also finished in double digits with 11 points to go with three rebounds and three assists.
Billy Urso had a trio of threes to finish with nine points alongside four rebounds and two assists.
Zack Pateras also hit three threes.
Liam Wilby had four rebounds and three assists.
For the game, the Gators shot 39.1% (25-of-64) from the floor. Of their 64 points, 22 came in the paint and 30 came off the bench.
The Battling Bishops converted 23 three-pointers in the game. Jaret Gerber scored a game-high 20 points with six threes. Nate Axelrod had 19 points while Seth Clark had 18 with five threes. Will Orr also finished in double figures with 11 points.
In a fast-paced opening to the game, the teams traded baskets back-and-forth until the Battling Bishops took a 15-10 lead. Rawls answered by driving in for a tough layup, cutting the lead to three, but back-to-back threes from the Battling Bishops led to a Gator timeout.
Following the timeout, Rawls and Kirkman converted layups to bring the score to 21-16. However, Ohio Wesleyan hit three more three-pointers to extend their lead to 30-16. After the Gators' second timeout, Urso halted the Battling Bishop run with his second three-pointer. The Battling Bishops continued to shoot well from beyond the arc, hitting 12 threes in the opening half as they owned a 51-23 lead at the half.
Rawls led the Gators with seven points and five rebounds in the opening half. Urso added six points while Kirkman also had six points to go alongside four rebounds.
The Battling Bishops scored the first points of the second half but a 7-0 run, fueled by five points from Rawls, brought the game to 53-30.
After calling timeout, the Battling Bishops went on a quick 8-0 to extend the lead to 61-30 with 14:02 to play. The Gators fought back as they brought the score down to 25 following a Pateras three with 6:42 remaining, but it was the closest they got as the Bishops led by as much as 38 down the stretch to seal the win.
