By: Andrew Korba

| Mcdonald's of Bluffton Holiday Tournament |

BLUFFTON, OHIO -- A furious second half rally came up just short as the Hiram College men's basketball team fell at Bluffton 64-59 in the McDonald's of Bluffton Holiday Tournament championship on Tuesday.

The Terriers drop to 7-3 on the season, while the Beavers push their record to 6-4.

Junior J.J. Woodson (Cleveland/Bedford) led three Terriers in double figures with 15 points.

Freshman Kelvin Jones (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) added 13 points and sophomore Kyle Deckerd (Louisville/Canton South) finished with 11 points.

Down 28-16 at the break and 34-20 with 17:00 remaining, Hiram staged a rally to cut the deficit to 60-58 with just over two minutes to play.

Bluffton would sink a pair of free throws and Woodson would split a pair to make the score 62-59 with 45 seconds left in the game.

Hiram was able to force a turnover and a game-tying 3-pointer from Woodson was off. Sophomore Jeremiah Thomas (Cleveland/John Hay) grabbed the rebound, but the Terriers would turn the ball over.

The Beavers hit two free throws off of a Hiram foul to put the game out of reach.

The Terriers built an early 5-0 lead and were able to hold a 15-10 lead, capped off by two free throws by Thomas.

But it was all Bluffton for the rest of the first half, as the Beavers reeled off an 18-1 run to take a 28-16 lead into the break.

Hiram finished the game shooting 17-of-49 (34.7 percent) from the field and 21-of-29 (72.4 percent) from the free throw line. The Beavers were 20-of-50 (40.0 percent) in shooting and a solid 19-of-21 (90.5 percent) from the charity stripe.

The Terriers won the rebounding battle 35-33.

For their efforts in the tournament, freshman Anthony Schmook (Parma) and Thomas were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Hiram will return to action on Saturday, when it returns to NCAC play with a two-game swing in Indiana. The Terriers will take on Wabash (Ind.) on Saturday at 3 p.m. and DePauw (Ind.) on Sunday at 3 p.m.