Box Score

ADA, Ohio – The Otterbein Cardinals dropped their Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) opener Wednesday evening on the road, falling 78-67 to host Ohio Northern University in men's basketball action.

Otterbein University, now 1-4 overall, will stay on the road to finish out the week with a 3 p.m. matchup at Baldwin Wallace University Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinals held an early 13-8 advantage after a layup from Ben Umpleby six minutes in, but the host Polar Bears countered with eight-straight points to vault ahead, 16-13.

ONU stayed on the gas pedal by scoring 13 of the next 16 points, all part of a 21-3 run, to open a 29-16 lead with 7:16 to play in the first. Ohio Northern eventually took a sizeable 43-25 lead into halftime.

The Polar Bears moved the cushion to 20 early in the second half, but Otterbein continued to battle and later got the lead back down to just 12, at 59-47, after a jumper from freshman Darrell Miller III with 10:06 remaining.

The Cardinals had the deficit at just 11 with 3:07 to play, but the margin would be a little too much to overcome as Ohio Northern improved to a perfect 5-0 on the year.

Freshman Matt Hughes turned in his best offensive game of the season for Otterbein, scoring a game-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Sophomore Jake Phillis, 14, and Miller, 11, also finished in double figures for the Cards.

Lucas Pennington registered 19 points for ONU while Konnor Baker had 17.

Otterbein, 46 percent, and Northern, 44 percent, were almost identical shooting from the field, but the Polar Bears connected on five more three-pointers and forced the Cardinals into committing six more turnovers. Both sides pulled down 37 rebounds throughout.