Box Score

WESTERVILLE, OHIO – The Otterbein University men’s basketball team fell to 6-9 overall and 2-6 in Ohio Athletic Conference play with a 68-63 loss to Wilmington College (7-9, 3-6 OAC) Saturday evening in the Rike Center.

The Cardinals stormed out from the get-go, leading 13-2 before taking a 19-9 lead after a breakaway dunk from junior Brice Rausch at the 12:28 mark.

Wilmington was able to regroup and eventually drew even at 21-21 after a layup from Brandon Candella.
Malcom Heard finished an alley-oop dunk on a fastbreak minutes later to give the Quakers a 27-24 advantage, but a three-pointer from Otterbein senior Nathan Edick tied the contest at 33-33 with 2:31 to go before the half.

Wilmington would take a slim 38-35 edge into the break, but Otterbein quickly evened the contest at 41-41 and again at 46-46 in the beginning minutes of the second half.

The Quakers sprinted on 10-2 run from that point spanning the next six minutes, taking a 58-48 lead with under nine minutes to go.

The Cards began to scrape their way back, and closed to within 60-57 with 4:12 remaining before going back down 66-59.

Otterbein saw chances by forcing Wilmington into turnovers with full-court pressure defense, but key misses at the free-throw line proved to be costly as Wilmington hung on 68-63.

Junior Chris Davis compiled 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Otterbein, breaking his streak of nine-straight double-doubles. Zach Bakenhaster tallied 15 points and eight boards while Max Van Meter posted 11 points and eight caroms.

Tyler White paced Wilmington with a game-high 25 points, while Taylor Wellman had 11.

Both teams shot a near identical .480 from the field, but the Cardinals committed nine more turnovers and made only 13-of-23 from the line, and 2-of-12 from behind the arc.

Otterbein returns to action Wednesday evening, staying at home to host Baldwin-Wallace College. Tip-off from the Rike Center is set for 7:30 p.m.