Box Score

WILMINGTON, OHIO – The 40-year career of Otterbein University men’s head basketball coach Dick Reynolds came to a close Monday evening as the Cardinals suffered a 76-65 defeat at Wilmington College in the opening round of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament.

The matchup was the second in less than 72 hours for the two schools, who also met Saturday in the regular season finale.

Otterbein, seeded eighth, finishes its season at 9-17 while No. 5 seed Wilmington (13-12) advances to play at Baldwin-Wallace College Tuesday evening in quarterfinal action.

The loss culminates the end of an era for Otterbein men’s basketball under Reynolds, who retires as the OAC’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 653-426. He exits as one of just seven coaches in NCAA Division III history to accumulate 650 wins.

The Cards led 7-2 in the early moments, but a 19-5 Wilmington run over the next six minutes gave the Quakers a 21-12 advantage with 10:32 to play in the first half.

Otterbein stopped the bleeding momentarily, but Wilmington bumped the margin to 34-18 before ultimately taking a 42-27 lead into the half.

The Cards got to within eight after a RaNeal Ewing jumper at the 13:38 mark of the second frame, and kept the deficit at eight, 55-47, when senior Brice Rausch split a pair of free throws with 9:33 to go.

The Quakers outscored Otterbein 15-8 over the next four minutes to widen their lead to 70-55. However, the Cardinals continued to claw and forced a Wilmington timeout after Tommy Waterwash buried a three-pointer as part of an 8-0 run, bringing the deficit to 70-63 with 3:33 on the game clock.

A bucket from Ewing after the timeout cut the lead to just five, but Wilmington converted a layup on the other end and never let the Cards score the remainder of the way.

Bakenhaster finished with a team-high 15 points in the loss, while Chris Davis and Max Van Meter each scored 11. Davis also brought down a game-high 14 rebounds.

Ewing posted ten points and Rausch had eight, while Antonio Bowman turned in a game-high 25 points for Wilmington.

Both teams shot over .500 from the field, but the Quakers were able to capitalize at the free-throw line by making 18 of 28 compared to Otterbein’s 20 of 37 (.541) effort.

Each side grabbed 28 rebounds, a much closer comparison than Otterbein's 41-18 advantage during Saturday's 68-65 victory.

The program won 11 conference regular-season championships and eight league tournament titles under Reynolds, who earned OAC Coach of the Year honors nine times while at the helm. He took the program to the NCAA Final Four in three different decades and won the 2002 national championship.

The loss also concludes the careers of Davis, Rausch and fellow seniors Mark Louks, and Steve Isaac. Davis and Rausch, teammates since high school, each finish their collegiate careers as 1,000-point scorers and post a combined 2,215 as a duo.