Patrick Fitzgerald, Special to The Denisonian—
The Denison Men’s Basketball team clashed with Hiram in Granville on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The Big Red entered this game with a four-game winning streak against the Terriers dating back to the 2019-2020 season. The streak continued as they won 78-58 behind Darren Rubin ’24’s 17 points in 21 minutes of action. The large margin of victory was in contrast to their earlier season meeting on Jan. 14, in which the Big Red narrowly prevailed 80-76 in overtime.
The standout guard commented on the difference between the two games. “Last time we got up early 18-3, and I think we just let our foot off the gas. That’s kind of been one of our issues this entire year, so tonight we really focused on not letting that happen,” Rubin said. This time, the team never trailed, only being tied for 1:50 and leading for the rest.
The game was very close through the first ten minutes, Denison leading 21-18 at the ten-minute mark of the first half. The Big Red never looked back, going on a 7-0 run shortly after. They entered halftime with a 43-33 lead, capped off by a Will Hunter ‘23 behind-the-head pass to Ricky Radtke ‘25.
The second half was much of the same. Denison started the second half with a 16-6 run and the game was all but over from there. Through the first ten minutes of the first half, Hiram guard Brodgie Gordon scored ten points on perfect shooting. Gordon ended the game with only 14 points despite the hot start, being shut down by Scotty Dean ‘25.
The big win was thanks to their defense. They grabbed 12 steals to Hiram’s six, which led to 19 points off turnovers. Denison also had a huge advantage in free throws, shooting ten more than the Terriers. Nick Heath ‘26 led an impressive bench effort, scoring 14 of the team’s 34 bench points. In totality, the Big Red controlled the pace of the game and sped up Hiram’s offense due to the pressure applied by the guards.
Top performers included Rubin with 17 points, who went a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe. Radtke recorded a dominating 13 rebounds and 11 points on great efficiency. Scotty Dean was a nightmare for Hiram tallying a staggering seven steals. Dean was extremely active on both ends and was a huge reason why Denison scored eight fast break points. Emmett Burnside ‘24 was very impactful in his 15 minutes of run, grabbing six points, seven rebounds, and a team-high four assists.
With the win, the Big Red collected a crucial home victory against a conference opponent. As the NCAC tournament approaches, the team is trying to climb up the standings. They surely have their work cut out for them, though, as Rubin added. “Our next four games are against four of the top five teams in the league, so they are going to be tough ones. It would be awesome for us to host a tournament game. If we have a winning record through these, I think that’s a real possibility,” Rubin said.
On Saturday, Feb. 4, the team took their first step toward achieving that goal by defeating DePauw 76-70 and improving their season record to 11-9. Their remaining schedule of entirely conference matchups continues with a Senior Day face-off against Wabash on Wednesday, Feb. 8.