WESTERVILLE, Ohio- Otterbein Men's Basketball welcomed the 6th ranked Marietta Pioneers to town Wednesday night in a game that would end up going right down to the wire.

The visitors escaped the Rike Center, 66-57, and stayed unbeaten in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play thanks to clutch free-throw shooting in crunch time. 

The Cardinals, coming off a heartbreaking loss to rival Capital over the weekend, gave the Pioneers all they could handle but ultimately dropped to 11-6 on the season and 5-5 in OAC action.

The first half was controlled mainly by Marietta after they erased a quick 7-2 Otterbein lead. With things all knotted up, 8-8, at the 14:32 mark, the Pioneers began to pull away and eventually led by 14 with just over two minutes remaining.

The backcourt combination of Dallas Patrick and Cam Evans provided a spark to close the half, though, with the duo going on a 6-1 run by themselves to help cut the halftime deficit to nine (30-21).

The second half started with two free throws from Patrick, but the visitors once again built the lead back up to 11. Marietta led by that margin on five separate occasions, but the Cards continued to fight back.

The final comeback attempt began at the 10:06 mark when Justin Carter knocked down a wide-open triple to cut the lead to 47-39. An 8-3 Otterbein run was then capped off by an Anthony Holmes steal near mid-court that led to a fast-break lay-in for the big man resulting in a Marietta timeout.

The Cardinals rallied out of the timeout and eventually found themselves ahead 55-54 after a Reid Black three from straight on. Marietta, though, went on to convert five-of-six free throw attempts (after the Cards began intentionally fouling) in the final 65 seconds of play to hold off the pesky Cardinals.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

Junior Dallas Patrick paced the Cardinal offense with a team-high 20 points, shooting 7-11 from the field. He was joined in double-figures by Reid Black, who posted 10 points while going 2-3 from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers saw only two players reach double figures, but their bench outscored Otterbein 16-11.

LOOKING AHEAD:

On Saturday, the Cardinals hit the road for a matchup with Muskingum at 4 p.m. Otterbein won the first meeting in Westerville by a final of 82-72.