FRANKLIN, Indiana- Otterbein Men's Basketball earned its first victory of the season Wednesday night after the Cardinals took down Franklin College, 76-66, in non-conference action.
The Cardinals last met up with the Grizzles on Nov. 9 in 2019; Otterbein escaped with a home victory that day, 86-84.
THE GAME:
- After both sides took five minutes of the game clock to settle in, Otterbein found itself with an early 11-5 advantage.
- The Grizzlies battled back to a two-point deficit before a Cardinal run ballooned the lead back up to 22-13.
- The Cardinals found themselves ahead by as many as 13 down the first-half stretch before settling for a 39-30 halftime lead.
- Otterbein built the lead back up to 12 at the start of the second half, a run that included an energizing three-pointer by Jake Justice after Dallas Patrick pulled down an offensive rebound.
- Franklin eventually tied things up at 50 with the Cardinals (10:52) thanks to a quick 6-0 Grizzlies run.
- Thanks to a 10-deep rotation keeping fresh legs on the floor, the Cardinals were able to control the pace, eventually leading to a 12-point lead following a Patrick exclamation point dunk.
- The Otterbein lead eventually grew to 17 before the final buzzer sounded.
BY THE NUMBERS:
- Veterans Dallas Patrick (game-high 18 points, 10 rebounds) and Reid Black (11 points, 10 rebounds) paced the Cardinal offense with their first double-double of the season.
- Redshirt-Senior Justin Carter joined the pair in double figures with 10 points of his own following a 5-for-6 shooting night.
- The Cardinals shot 31-57 (54.4%) from the field and 6-19 from three. They converted on 8-of-11 free-throw attempts.
- The Cards held Franklin to just a 43.9% outing from the field.
UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will host Denison on Saturday night for their home opener. Game time is set for 7 p.m. from Westerville.
