Box Score

MARIETTA, Ohio – Otterbein University suffered a loss to open its Ohio Athletic Conference schedule Saturday afternoon, falling 90-62 at Marietta College in what was the league opener for both schools.

Otterbein falls to 2-3 overall while Marietta, picked to finish tied for second in the conference preseason poll, improves to 3-2 with the victory. The Cardinals return to action Tuesday evening, hosting Wittenberg University in their home opener at 7:30 p.m.

Three-pointers from Matt McCollister and C.J. Julian gave Otterbein an early 6-5 lead, but Marietta embarked on a 27-9 scoring advantage over the next eight-plus minutes to seize a 32-15 lead. The Cards later went into halftime down 46-30.

Otterbein shot 11 of 20 (.550) from the field over the opening 20 minutes, but also committed 17 turnovers in the process.

The Pioneers continued their hot shooting with five more three-pointers to open the second stanza, extending the advantage to 65-41 as the game clocked ticked under 11 minutes.

Marietta held a 27-point lead with 7:59 to play, but Otterbein continued to battle and used a 9-0 run to cut the lead down to 18. The Cards would never get any closer en route to the defeat.

Colin Echelberry paced the Otterbein attack with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while Max Van Meter and McCollister added 11 and 10, respectively.

Freshman Kenny Bolyard grabbed a team-high eight rebounds as the Cards won the battle on the glass, 35-33.

Julian and Andy Yazrombek each scored eight points for a Cardinal team that shot .407 from the field and .348 (8 of 23) from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers shot an impressive .581 from three-point range, connecting on 18 of 31 three-pointers and shooting .525 from the field as a group. Brennan McKean scored 15 points for Marietta, finishing as the only player in double figures.

Otterbein only turned the ball over four times in the second half, but the Pioneers still finished the day with a 29-9 edge in points off giveaways. Both teams scored 18 points in the paint while Marietta had a 54-18 advantage in bench scoring.