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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein University men's basketball team tallied a split in its 35th-annual Smokey Ballenger Tournament over the weekend, taking down Houghton College (N.Y) before falling to DePauw University in the championship game.

Day 1 vs. Houghton (73-58 win)

The Cardinals battled the Highlanders throughout a rugged and somewhat sloppy first half in Friday's nightcap, scoring the first eight points of the game to take the early momentum. Otterbein opened a 12-point advantage as the first stanza progressed, but Houghton stayed close and only trailed by five, 33-28, entering halftime.

The Cards took control for good early in the second half, bumping their lead back to double digits by the 16:08 mark and slowly, but surely, pulling away from there. Otterbein got its lead to as many as 21 on a few different occasions before ultimately tallying the comfortable win.

Freshman Matt Hughes led a balanced Otterbein squad throughout, posting the first double-double of his career with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Six other Cardinals scored seven points or more.

Otterbein held a commanding 38-10 on points in the paint and 30-20 advantage in bench scoring.

 
Day 2 vs. DePauw (54-42 loss)

The Tigers opened the game with a quick 10-4 run, but Otterbein settled in defensively and forced DePauw to go ice cold from the field the remainder of the period. DePauw's misfires allowed the Cardinals to embark on what would be a staggering 23-3 run over the next 12 minutes of play, good enough to open a 27-13 margin.

Otterbein eventually took a 30-18 lead into halftime, limiting the Tigers to a 17.2 percentage from the field (including 3 of 17 from three-point range) over the opening 20 minutes while shooting 52.2 percent themselves.

DePauw came storming out to begin the second half, going on a 19-4 run to take a 37-34 lead by the 10:28 mark and force Otterbein head coach Todd Adrian to call a timeout.

The young Cardinals quickly regrouped, getting a layup from sophomore Ben Umpleby out of the break and keeping the game within a possession, at 40-38, as the clock ticked under 7:00.

The Tigers would pull away down the home stretch to complete their comeback, getting a few timely three-pointers and holding the Cards to just 12 points in the second half as a whole.

"This game really helped us learn some lessons tonight," Adrian said afterwards. "We have to knock down some shots when a team gets physical with us. They made us play at a level that we hadn't experienced yet, but that's exactly why we brought a team like DePauw in here. I'm so happy that we got them in the championship game because this will really prepare us for what lies ahead."

DePauw flipped the results from the field over the final 20 minutes, shooting an even 50 percent while holding Otterbein to a 6 of 23 effort (.188).

Point guard Jake Phillis scored 13 for Otterbein and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team, going 5 for 13 from the field to mark the only Cardinal in double figures. Bryan Mackenzie, also on the All-Tournament squad, added six points while five other players chipped in four each. Mackenzie and freshman AJ Sims tied for a team-high nine rebounds.

The Tigers were paced throughout the tournament by 6-9 center Tommy Fernitz, an All-American candidate who tallied a pair of double-doubles over the weekend.. He finished with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds against Otterbein en route to Most Valuable Player honors.

"That kid is a good player, but I was pleased with our efforts against him tonight," Adrian said of defending Fernitz. "We held him to just 12 points and did most everything we needed to do. It was a great effort by our kids and I thought, as a whole, we gave them some defensive looks that caused pressure. We had a few breakdowns, but that's still pretty good for a bunch of guys that haven't played a whole lot of basketball together yet. We definitely took a step forward tonight."

Bob Dillon matched Phillis with a game-high 13 points to help lead DePauw, which improves to 3-0 on the season with a win.

Other members of the All-Tournament Team included Luke Lattner (DePauw),  Brennan Campbell (Houghton) and Nathan Gross (Anderson).