Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Cardinal men's basketball team suffered an 81-59 loss to Ohio Wesleyan on Tuesday night in the first of its two games of the week in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC)/North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Challenge.

Otterbein (0-4 overall) welcomes a four-day break from competition before hosting day two of the OAC/NCAC Challenge on Sunday, beginning with a neutral matchup between OWU and Capital at 2 p.m. The Cardinals are scheduled to follow against Wittenberg at 4 p.m. inside the Rike Center.

Day one of the challenge was played at Wittenberg inside Pam Evans Smith Arena, with the Cards and the Battling Bishops featured in the opener.

OWU (3-0 overall) notched the first basket of the game on a three-pointer by guard Will Orr, before Cardinal guards Nick Koontz and Gabe Watson accounted for the next five points to give their team a 5-3 advantage.

That proved to be the last time Otterbein would hold a lead in the contest, with a tie game at 12 points apiece around the 13-minute mark of the initial frame serving as the closest the Cards would come.

The Bishops outscored the Cardinals 32-13 over the final 13 minutes of action en route to a 19-point lead at the break. Koontz checked in as the high-point man for Otterbein with six points, as the team shot just 27 percent.

Otterbein's bench managed to string together a 10-point scoring effort in a span of just four minutes midway through the second half, as guard Maurice Beavers tallied six quick points sandwiched between baskets from forward Troy Schalitz and guard Cameron Arminio.

OWU went ahead by as many as 34 points before Otterbein trimmed its deficit to 22 points to end the game. Beavers ended up with a team-high nine points on 4-of-9 shooting, while also grabbing five boards in just 14 minutes of play. Koontz followed with eight points and three rebounds.

Bishop guard Seth Clark was stellar all night and paced all scorers with 28 points on an 11-of-19 mark from the field, including four shots from beyond the arc along with a game-high nine rebounds. Fellow guard Jaret Gerber was the only other player in double-figures, converting four three-pointers for 12 points.