Written Dec. 29, 2009 by Adam Prescott

WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Otterbein (3-9) played its way to a pair of victories at the Smokey Ballenger Classic, defeating Hanover (IN) 74-63 on Monday before turning around to claim a 87-71 win against Denison in Tuesday’s night cap.

Monday’s contest remained close in the opening stages of the game, as Otterbein grabbed a 17-13 lead on a three-pointer from Nathan Edick with 7:14 remaining before the break.

The Panthers then embarked on an 11-1 run, capped by a free-throw from Mike Case to take a 24-18 lead with 2:57 left.

Hanover eventually took a 29-22 edge into intermission.

The Cardinals came out of the break strong, outscoring Hanover 20-11 over the first eight minutes to take a 42-40 lead.

The team then pushed its advantage to 51-43 on a jumper from Edick with 7:20 remaining in the contest.

Otterbein extended its lead to as many as 15 before earning the 74-63 victory.

Senior Brian Pollock led all scorers with 23 points, including five three-pointers. Senior Cory Ratai nailed his last five shot attempts to finish with 14 points while Edick contributed 12.

Sophomore center Chris Davis pulled down a career best 12 rebounds in the winning effort.

Case and Mitchell Meyer paced the Panthers with 11 points each.

The Cardinals shot .377 for the game, including .593 in the second half, while Hanover held a shooting percentage of just .339.

Otterbein opened the second day strong, jumping on top of Denison 15-6 in the early going. The Big Red clawed to within three at 18-15, but OC responded to push its lead to 29-18 after a triple from Pollock at the 6:41 mark.

The Cardinals would push the advantage to 43-27 by halftime, shooting a blistering .567 from the field over the first 20 minutes.

Denison outscored the Cards 13-8 to open the second half, forcing Otterbein to call a timeout at the 14:32 mark with the score at 51-40.

Otterbein stayed put, and pushed the lead back to 66-50 with just under eight minutes to play after junior Ian Gardner scored five straight points.

Denison continued to make a push, and closed to 70-57 with just under four minutes remaining.

Otterbein countered on its next possession, however, when Pollock buried a deep three-pointer with the shot clock winding down.

The Cards would hold off the Big Red and eventually earn the 87-71 win.

Five Cardinals scored in double figures, led by 20 from Pollock. Gardner and Davis tallied 19 and 17 points while Ratai and sophomore Brice Rausch chipped in 13 and 12, respectively.

Larry Farmer led Denison with 17 points.

The team returns to action on Wednesday, resuming conference play at John Carroll. Tip-off from University Heights is scheduled for 7 p.m.