Box Score WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's basketball team dropped a home game within Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play Wednesday evening, finishing on the low side of an 87-54 defeat to Wilmington College.
The loss hurts Otterbein's chances of making the league's eight-team postseason tournament at the end of the month, dropping the group to 4-18 on the year and 2-13 against the OAC.
Wilmington entered with an identical conference mark before improving to 4-17 overall, 3-12 within league play. The Quakers now hold any potential tiebreaker with the Cards as result of winning both matchups this season.
Otterbein struggled offensively to begin the game, missing its first eight shots as Wilmington built a quick 10-0 advantage. The Cards final settled in and scored seven-straight points, but the Quakers responded right back with a 14-2 run that opened a 24-9 gap by the 9:06 mark.
Wilmington continued to pour it on from there, burying shot after shot from the field and using a swarming defense effort to ultimately build a 49-20 lead by halftime. The Quakers shot 51 percent in the first half, making eight three-pointers and going perfect from the free-throw line.
Otterbein had 12 turnovers and just six made field goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Both sides exchanged buckets throughout the second half as junior point guard
Jake Phillis reached a notable milestone at the 16:05 mark, drilling a three-pointer to become the 25th player in program history to reach 1,000-career points.
"It's disappointing to have this milestone come in a tough loss, but I'm grateful and honored to have gotten here," Phillis said. "It shows hard work has paid off. This also wouldn't have happened without amazing support from my teammates, coaches and family."
Andrew Russell scored 17 points to lead Wilmington, which connected on 10 three-pointers in all and buried 13 of 13 at the foul line.
The Quakers committed just 10 turnovers, forced Otterbein into 21 on the other end, and won the rebounding battle 47-32, including 19 offensive.
Phillis was the only Cardinal in double figures, scoring 11, and now sits with 1,003 points in just under three seasons at Otterbein.
"It's great to be in the 1,000-point club and be mentioned with some of the other players that have come through here," Phillis added. "I hope we can now focus on improving as a team and start making a push up the OAC standings going forward."
Otterbein will finish out the week across town against rival Capital University Saturday afternoon as the first game of a men's and women's doubleheader. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.
