Box Score
BEXLEY, Ohio – Otterbein University men's basketball dropped the second of two meetings with crosstown-rival Capital University Saturday afternoon on the road, falling 69-56 inside the Capital Center.

The Cardinals mounted a second-half comeback and went toe-to-toe with the Crusaders down the stretch, but unfortunately ran out of gas late as the hosts out-scored Otterbein 13-1 over the final 3:35. As a result, the Tan and Cardinal move to 4-19 on the season and 3-13 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play.

Capital takes the season series with the Cardinals, improving itself to 11-12 overall and an even 8-8 in the OAC.

The Cardinals struggled offensively to begin the game, making just 4 of its first 19 shots as the Crusaders assumed an early lead. Otterbein converted 11 of 13 at the free-throw line to hang close before a buzzer-beating layup helped give the Purple and White a 32-21 advantage entering halftime.

Otterbein stormed out of the break, going on an 18-6 run to ultimately take a 39-38 lead after an Andy Yazrombek layup at the 12:00 mark.

Both sides began trading points over the ensuing nine minutes, and a driving layup from freshman Jake Phillis kept the Cardinals within a point, at 56-55, with 3:35 to play.

The Crusaders answered on the following trip down the floor, and an old-fashioned three-point play from senior Andrew Bolka gave Capital a 61-55 edge with 2:18 to go. The Cards went cold from there as Capital eventually preserved the win.

Freshman Matt Rhodes helped lead the charge for Otterbein in the second period, posting a team-high 17 points on a 7-of-11 effort from the field. Phillis added 12 points while Andy Yazrombek and Jon Juergens each brought down six rebounds.

Bolka and Ben Jackson combined to score 35 points on the Capital side.

Otterbein finished at just 32 percent shooting for the game, but managed to make 19 of 23 at the charity stripe and also finish with a 21-7 edge in bench scoring.

Capital shot a bit better at 39 percent from the field and also shot well at the free-throw stripe, making 22 of 27. Both teams corralled 37 rebounds.

Otterbein will return to action Wednesday evening with a 7 p.m. matchup at John Carroll University.