Box Score
TIFFIN, Ohio – The Cardinal men's basketball team was defeated, 71-61, at Heidelberg on Saturday afternoon inside Seiberling Gymnasium.
Otterbein (7-12 overall) drops to 3-9 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play and surrenders the season series to the Student Princes, which outscored the Cardinals by 27 points in their two meetings this year.
The Cardinals manufactured a 14-6 scoring run to begin the game making six of their first nine shots with six points on a pair of three-pointers from freshman
Austin Springer.
Heidelberg tied the game at 14 points apiece three minutes later before taking its largest lead of the first half with less than a minute remaining at 34-26.
A pair of made free throws by senior
Bryan Mackenzie proved to be the final points of the frame as the Cards cut the Berg's lead to 34-28. Springer checked in with a game-high 12 points on four three-pointers.
The Student Princes opened the second half with a 12-0 run to take what would be its largest lead of the contest at 46-28 at the 16:07 mark. The Cardinals then bested the Berg's run with a 14-0 run of their own to cut the lead to four points.
A made shot from beyond the arc by junior
Matt Hughes with 9:41 remaining brought Otterbein within two possessions before Heidelberg scored 10 of the next 13 points to boost its lead back to double-digits.
Otterbein continued to battle over the final minutes of action down just five points with 30 seconds left. Heidelberg cashed in all six of its free throw attempts in the final block of time to move to 5-7 in OAC play.
Hughes finished with a team-high 17 points on a 7-of-15 mark from the field to go along with seven rebounds. Mackenzie followed with 14 points and a team-best eight rebounds, while Springer concluded the day with 12 points and three rebounds.
Heidelberg's Myron Prewitt notched a game-high 19 points on an efficient 8-of-10 shooting for a team that scored 32 points in the paint.
The Cardinals wrap-up their three-game road trip next Wednesday at John Carroll inside the DeCarlo Center at 7 p.m.
