Box Score

ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's basketball team dropped a tough Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) road game Saturday afternoon, falling by a score of 92-82 at No. 23-ranked University of Mount Union.

The Cardinals move to 1-7 on the season and 0-3 against the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) with the loss, ending a challenging opening stretch to the season. Their opponents currently have a combined record of 52-18, with three teams nationally ranked and No. 4 Ohio Wesleyan getting upset Saturday at Hiram, which beat Otterbein by just five the night before Thanksgiving.

Otterbein fell into an early hole against Mount Union (7-2, 4-0 OAC), watching the Purple Raiders open the game on a 12-0 run and late settle into a 31-15 advantage. The Cards would close the first half strong, outscoring the hosts 19-10 over the final 6:31 to close within 41-34 at the break.

Otterbein rolled that momentum into the second half, hanging close and eventually slicing the deficit down to a one-possession game, 62-59, on a three-pointer from junior Grant Fenner at the midway point of the period.

The upset-minded Cardinals were not going away from that point, trailing by just two, 80-78, when senior Marc McCuen drilled a three-pointer with 2:37 showing on the game clock. Otterbein had a chance to tie or take the lead after a defensive stop, but a jumper missed the mark and Mount Union's Cody Dillon answered with a timely three-pointer of his own on the ensuing trip.

Otterbein, now trailing 83-78 with 1:51 to play, missed a three-pointer coming out of a timeout and was forced to play catch-up from that point on. Mount Union would connect on 7-of-8 free throws in the final 90 seconds to prevail.

McCuen led all scorers with a new career-high of 26 points, scoring 15 in the first half and then another 11 after intermission on 9-of-16 shooting throughout. He knocked down 6 of 11 from behind the arc.

Fenner was just behind with a new career-high of 25, going 8 of 15 from the field and also snagging a game-best eight rebounds. Classmate Jake Phillis, the OAC's second-leading scorer, turned in 18 points on a 7-of-14 shooting day.

Jarrett Ruffin tallied 19 points to pace five Mount Union players in double figures, going 6 of 7 from the field and corralling six boards. He ranks third in the conference in field-goal percentage, shooting over 60 percent from the floor.

Both teams shot the ball well, with Mount Union finishing at a blistering 61.4 percent as a team while the Cardinals made over half of their attempts to end at 51.8 percent. All five of Otterbein's starters played 36 minutes or more.

The Cards will look to pick up their first conference win of the season come Wednesday evening, traveling to play Muskingum University at 7:30 p.m. in New Concord. The Muskies are currently 3-6 overall and 0-3 against the league.