WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's basketball dropped a highly competitive game Wednesday night inside the Rike Center to John Carroll, as the Blue Streaks scored 54 in the second half to defeat the Cardinals.
Otterbein falls to 6-18 overall and 3-13 in the league, while the Blue Streaks improve to 11-13 on the season and 7-10 in the OAC.
With one contest remaining in the regular season Muskingum leads the Cardinals by one game and owns the tiebreaker, which officially eliminates Otterbein from postseason play. John Carroll, the reigning OAC Champions, currently owns the sixth slot in the conference standings.
John Carroll and Otterbein would trade baskets for majority of the first half as the largest lead either squad held would be four points.
Hunter Dennison connected on a three pointer with 14 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 30-30. Dennison led the Cardinals at the break with eight points by shooting 3 of 4 from the field.
Otterbein started the second half hot from behind the arc, as
Kobe Long-Weber and
Justin Carter each made a three pointer. Immediately following the Carter triple, John Carroll rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to build a 48-38 edge.
The Cardinals continued to fight their way back and cut the deficit to two points following a
Jay Joseph three. However, John Carroll had an answer and maintained the lead, as the Blue Streaks would close the game out by making 8 of 9 from the free throw line.
Sean Flannery of JCU recorded 16 points, 10 assists, and had zero turnovers in 39 minutes of action. Jimmy Berger led all scorers with 24 points on 69 percent shooting from the field.
Joseph led the Cardinals with a team-high 21 points, on 9 of 13 shooting, and a game-high 13 rebounds. Carter nearly tallied his first double-double of the season by scoring 15 points and corralling nine rebounds.
Otterbein will conclude the season by hosting Baldwin Wallace Saturday at 2 p.m. The Cardinals will honor their two seniors
Connor Clark and
Andre Bradley before the game starts.
