Box Score
WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Otterbein University men’s basketball notched a crucial Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory Saturday evening, upsetting visiting John Carroll University 89-75 in the Rike Center.
The win moves the Cardinals to 7-14 overall and 4-10 in the conference. The team now sits in a tie for eighth in the league standings as a result of Muskingum, Heidelberg, and Mount Union all suffering losses Saturday afternoon.
John Carroll (15-5, 10-4) falls out of first place in the OAC with the loss.
The victory marks the second-straight defeat for John Carroll in Westerville, as Otterbein topped JCU 86-83 last season when the Streaks were ranked among the top-25 nationally.
The Cardinals opened an 11-6 lead early on, and used hot shooting from the perimeter to push the margin to 22-13 by the 10:20 mark.
John Carroll battled back with a 15-5 run, taking a 28-27 lead after two free throws from Patrick Sweeney with 3:00 to play in the opening stanza.
Otterbein stayed put and would eventually take a 35-33 lead into halftime. The Cardinals buried 6 of 13 three-pointers over the opening 20 minutes, while John Carroll managed to make just 3 of its 10 attempts from behind the arc.
The contest would see five ties over the first ten minutes of the second half, the last coming when a jumper from Otterbein’s Brice Rausch knotted the game at 52-52 with 12:18 to play.
The Cardinals would go on a 15-3 run from that point, opening a 67-55 advantage with 7:08 showing on the game clock.
The Blue Streaks used their pesky full-court pressure defense to force turnovers and cut the deficit all the way down to four, at 74-70, after two free-throws from Joey Meyer with 3:21 to play.
However, Otterbein center Chris Davis split a pair of free-throws on the other end before a fast break layup from Rausch off a Blue Streak turnover pushed the lead to 77-70. The Cardinals never looked back en route to the victory.
Freshman RaNeal Ewing was impressive off the bench for Otterbein, tying for a game-high 21 points on to lead five Cardinals in double figures. He also grabbed six rebounds.
Rausch posted 18 on a perfect 7 of 7 shooting while Max Van Meter and Davis each scored 12. Davis also brought down a game-high 10 rebounds while Jason Davis came off the bench to contribute 11 points.
Corey Shontz paced the Blue Streak attack with 21 points and eight assists in the contest, which saw 52 fouls and 68 free-throw attempts.
Otterbein shot a solid .571 from the field and of 37 (.591) from the charity stripe. JCU went .424 from the field and was outrebounded 40-24 by the Cards.
Otterbein returns to action Wednesday, Feb. 8 when it travels to take on cross-town rival Capital University. Starting time is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Crusaders, which topped Otterbein 76-67 earlier this season, currently sit atop the league standings.
