DELAWARE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's basketball team lost its first contest in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) / Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Challenge to Ohio Wesleyan, 82-76, Tuesday night inside the Rickey Arena.
Ohio Wesleyan improves to 2-1 overall as forward Grant Gossard led the charge with 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Jaret Gerber chipped in 18 points.
Otterbein drops to 1-3 on the year and continues playing competitive basketball, as sophomore
Maurice Beavers had a career game with 28 points and eight rebounds.
The Cardinals came out cold by missing four of their first five shots, which allowed the Battling Bishops to start the game with a 12-2 lead. Otterbein continued to fight back against the host, as
Kobe Long-Weber buried a deep three-pointer to cut the deficit to eight with 5:31 left in the first half.
The Bishops' strong shooting helped build a 14-point advantage heading into the locker room, as Ohio Wesleyan shot 59 percent from the field and connected on 5-of-11 from downtown.
Ohio Wesleyan started the second half by making three of its first four shots, two of which were three pointers, and pushed the lead to 20. Otterbein showed its resilience with 11 minutes to go, as the Cardinals rattled off 16 of the next 18 points and cut the deficit to five with slightly over four minutes remaining.
The Cardinals and Battling Bishops traded baskets, as Otterbein would pull within four points with 26 seconds remaining. The Bishops connected on four of their six fouls shots down the stretch to earn the victory.
Sophomore
Eddie Anders contributed 14 points, as freshman guard
Jake Justice added 14 points off of the bench. Guard
Jay Joseph led the team with 12 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end of the floor.
The Otterbein defense stepped up in the second half by holding the Bishops to 18 percent from behind the arc (3-16), compared to 45 percent in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Cardinals look to take a couple days off to spend the holiday with their families before regrouping at the end of the week, as they will take on No. 11 Wittenberg in game two of the NCAC/OAC Challenge at Capital in Bexley, Ohio at 4 p.m.
