Box Score
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinal men's basketball team dropped an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) matchup inside the Rike Center Saturday afternoon, falling by a score of 70-59 against cross-town rival Capital.
Otterbein struggled offensively throughout the first half with leading-scorer
Justin Carter in foul trouble, as he picked up two early calls in the opening five minutes and was forced to sit.
The Cardinals shot just 4 of 23 from the field prior to halftime, but were able to remain close with solid shooting at the free-throw line. Capital (3-5, 1-2 OAC) eventually carried a 24-19 lead into the break.
Both sides traded buckets in the early going of the second half, but the Crusaders were able to extend their lead to double digits by the 14:18 mark on fast-break dunk from Caleb Cox.
Otterbein quickly got the deficit back down into single digits and remained within striking distance, only trailing 53-45 following a layup from Maurice Beaver with 6:53 showing on the clock. Capital regrouped from there, getting consecutive scores and never trailing by less than 10 points again.
Beavers paced the Cardinals throughout on a hefty workload, scoring 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting and then also snagging a team-best eight rebounds. Freshman sharpshooter
Eddie Anders scored 12 off the bench while Carter had all nine of his points in the second half. He also blocked four shots.
Otterbein shot just 31 percent from the field compared to a 51-percent clip for Capital, which received a game-high 28 points from Joey Weingartner. He went 11 of 22 from the floor with five rebounds and a trio of assists.
Austin Schreck added 14 points for the visitors while big man Caleb Cox posted a double-double effort of 12 points and 11 boards.
Capital won the rebounding battle, 44-33, and finished with a 34-18 scoring edge in the paint. Otterbein held a 23-11 advantage in bench points.
Otterbein (0-8, 0-3 OAC) will look for its first win of the season with one more game before Christmas, traveling to play Muskingum next Saturday at 2 p.m.
