Box Score
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Otterbein University men’s basketball, led by a career-best 26 points from senior Zach Bakenhaster, tallied its first Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory Saturday evening by turning back Muskingum University, 72-60, in the Rike Center.
The win moves the Cardinals to 4-3 this season and 1-1 in OAC play, and the Muskies fall to 0-7 overall and 0-2 in the league as a result.
Muskingum made a pair of free throws before tip-off due to an administrative technical foul on Otterbein, but the Cards held the Muskies scoreless over the opening five minutes in building a 9-2 advantage.
The Muskies went on a quick 8-0 run to leap ahead, but the Cards answered by rattling off 12 unanswered points to take a 21-10 lead with 10:36 remaining in the first half. Otterbein later built the lead to 16, taking a 39-23 advantage into intermission.
Otterbein moved its margin to 18 just a few minutes into the second half, but Muskingum slowly chipped away at the lead and eventually brought the deficit down to five, at 55-50, with 7:04 left in regulation.
C.J. Julian answered with a made jumper on the other end for the Cardinals, and Otterbein ultimately moved the lead back to double digits en route to victory.
Senior Zach Bakenhaster turned in a career-high 26 points, in just 25 minutes of action, to lead all scorers, shooting 10 of 12 from the field and 6 of 10 at the free-throw line. He also added nine rebounds.
Sophomore guard Andy Yazrombek controlled the game’s tempo most of the night, tallying 14 points, a career-best 10 rebounds, and three assists. He played all but four minutes of action.
Junior Max Van Meter scored 15 in addition to grabbing nine rebounds.
Dave Brown and Logan Kimble each scored 11 to lead Muskingum’s offense, while Clay Owings and Michael Klamo had 10 a piece.
The Cardinal shot .418 for the contest, and stifled Muskingum at the other end by limiting the visitors to just 21 of 66 (.318) for the game. Both sides combined to shoot 2 of 30 from three-point range.
Otterbein won the rebounding battled 51-45 and scored 46 of its points in the painted area.
