WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The head coaching debut for Andy Winters resulted in an exciting triumph over Franklin College (Ind.) Saturday afternoon inside the Rike Center, as his Otterbein men's basketball squad erased a second-half deficit to slip past the Grizzlies, 86-84, on a pair of late free throws from senior Nick Koontz.

"First and foremost, I am so happy for our kids that have been nothing but all in," Winters said afterward. "They have come to every practice with great energy, and that showed again today."

The new-look Cardinals opened strong for their first-year taskmaster by seizing a 25-14 lead as the midway point of the first half approached. Franklin, which had defeated Otterbein 84-77 last year, finally settled in a chipped away over a final seven-minute push before halftime.

The Grizzlies used a 16-3 run during the span, flipping a 39-26 deficit into an eventual 49-44 lead by intermission. Franklin ended the first half shooting an even 60 percent from the floor.

Franklin pushed its lead to as many as 12, coming by the 9:36 mark of the second half, but a resilient and relatively youthful Cardinal lineup didn't go anywhere. Otterbein surged on an 11-3 run over the next few minutes to make it a one-possession battle, which then saw ties at 79-79, 81-81 and again at 84-84 after a visitor layup.

Koontz was fouled on the next possession with just eight seconds remaining and promptly stepped to the charity stripe, burying both attempts for his only points of the day. A jumper from Franklin's Kale Morris, who had converted the game-tying layup on the previous possession, missed the marked and Otterbein survived.

"It was a game of huge momentum swings, so I am proud of the guys for staying with it the entire 40 minutes," Winters said. "I thought we showed great toughness the last five minutes."

Sophomore Reid Black led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, going 6 of 9 from the field and making all but one of his 10 free-throw attempts. Justin Carter dropped 17 of his own while newcomers Dallas Patrick (14) and Dustin Harder (11) also added double figures.

The always-gritty Koontz contributed nine assists, eight rebounds and five steals across his 33 minutes of action. The Cards shot 43 percent for the game but were an impressive 20 of 22 on free throws.

Matt Krause paced the Grizzlies with 20 points while Sam Gutierrez had 19, as the Franklin starting lineup accounted for all but seven of the visitor points. Otterbein subsequently held a 23-7 edge in bench scoring.

"We are far from being a finished product, but the drive to get better is there," Winters added. "We need to do a better job on the defensive end, but that will come."

Otterbein will stay at home to begin the action next week, welcoming Case Western Reserve to the Rike Center for tip-off at 7 p.m.