Written Feb. 10, 2010 by Adam Prescott

WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Otterbein dropped to 6-16 overall and 4-11 in Ohio Athletic Conference play Wednesday evening after suffering a 103-93 setback to first-place John Carroll in the Rike Center.

Carroll improves to 16-5 on the season and 12-3 against league foes, while Otterbein still remains just one game out of eighth place. The top eight teams qualify for the postseason tournament.

The Blue Streaks took a 17-10 lead on a Rudy Kirbus three-pointer just five minutes in, but the Cardinals countered and eventually took a 26-24 lead after senior Brian Pollock made a layup at the 9:23 mark.

The game remained close with the lead changing hands six times over the duration of the first half, as JCU would take a slim 50-46 edge into the break.

John Carroll buried nine three-pointers over the opening 20 minutes, and Otterbein hung close by converting 11-of-16 attempts from the free-throw line. Carroll shot just four from the charity stripe in the first half.

The Streaks kept the lead until the 12:38 mark of the second half when Otterbein’s Ian Gardner converted two free-throws to propel the Cards to a 69-67 margin.

John Carroll then went on an 11-2 run over the next two and half minutes, getting three consecutive three-pointers from Kirbus, to open a 78-71 advantage with just under ten minutes showing on the game clock.

Nathan Edick made a triple on the ensuing possession to keep the Cards at 78-74, and the team found themselves down just 79-75 moments later after JCU’s Maurice Hayes and Otterbein’s Brice Rausch both split a pair of free-throws.

However, the visiting Blue Streaks put together a quick 7-0 run in just over a minute to expand the lead to  86-75, and OC was never able to make another serious push en route to suffering the defeat.

Edick, who had scored a career-high 23 points in Saturday’s win over Muskingum, set a new career-best with 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The Worthington native buried six triples and connected on 3-of-4 from the line.

Rausch tied a career-high with 21 points, 11 of which came at the free-throw line. Chris Davis scored 16 to go along with 13 rebounds, while Cory Ratai also tallied a double-double with 13 points and ten caroms.

Pollock, the team’s leading scorer at 17 ppg, finished with just eight points on 3-of-15 shooting.

Kirbus led the Blue Streaks with 17 off the bench while Corey Shontz had 15. Three other JCU players notched 11 in the victory.

John Carroll shot a blistering .587 from the field, including .536 (15 of 28) from long-range. Otterbein also shot the ball well, shooting .470 from the floor.

The team next hits the road to battle Mount Union Saturday afternoon, Tip-off from Alliance is scheduled for 3 p.m.