NEW CONCORD, OHIO – Otterbein earned its first victory of the season Saturday, defeating Muskingum 72-69 in New Concord.

The victory moves Otterbein to 1-7 on the season, 1-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play.

The loss drops Muskingum to 3-5 overall, 0-3 in league action.

Tied 7-7 early on, Otterbein junior guard Nathan Edick buried three consecutive three-pointers to give help jolt the Cards on a 9-2 run and grab a 16-9 lead with 13:10 to play in the opening half.

OC remained ahead and pushed its lead to 32-20 after a trifecta from senior Cory Ratai at the 4:19 mark.

Muskingum fought back, however, and outscored OC 12-4 over the duration of the first half. The Cardinals would take a 36-32 lead into halftime.  

The Muskies came out strong in the second half, taking a 44-42 edge at the 13:50 mark after a layup from Seth Howard.

Otterbein stayed close, and saw themselves locked at 51-51 with 10:26 remaining.

The Cards then embarked on a quick 8-0 run over the next two minutes, as Edick tallied five points in the span with a pair of free throws and another three-pointer.

Down 61-53, Muskingum responded with a 9-1 run to even the game at 62-62 with 4:08 showing on the game clock.

After a Muskingum made a layup just outside of the one minute mark to close to within a point, Cardinal point guard Mark Louks converted a layup of his own on the other end to give OC a 69-66 lead with 36 seconds to go.

Two Chris Davis free throws widened the margin to 71-66 with four seconds left, and Otterbein would hang on to preserve the 72-69 win.

Ratai tied for a game-high with 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including a 6-of-8 performance from the line.

Senior guard Brian Pollock scored 17 points while Edick recorded 16 by going 5-of-6 from the floor. He made four of five attempts from behind the arc.

Nick Hershberger led Muskingum with 21 points, while Cory Bourquin and Josh Brindley chipped in 16 and 15, respectively.