PHOTO GALLERY
WESTERVILLE, Ohio- Otterbein Men's Basketball collected another conference win Wednesday night, knocking off the visiting Polar Bears of Ohio Norther, 57-53.
Once again, the Cardinals defense stole the show, holding ONU's top two scorers to just 21 combined points. Otterbein is now 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) after Monday's game with Baldwin Wallace was canceled due to Covid protocols, giving the Cardinals a win in the OAC standings but not overall.
WHAT WENT DOWN:
- ONU jumped out to a 9-5 lead early, but the Cards battled back to take the lead after Bryson Lane, Brennan Rains, and Reid Black all knocked down a triple.
- From there, the Cardinals led the rest of the half, but ONU was able to stay within striking distance, never trailing by more than six.
- Otterbein led at the break, 32-27, after the Polar Bears' second-leading scorer, Brandon Waugh, was forced to sit the final 9 minutes of the half with two fouls.
- The start of the second half was choppy, with both sides turning it over back-and-forth before Dallas Patrick finally hit a pull-up jump shot at the 17:52 mark.
- Otterbein built the lead up to nine twice in the second half, but a mixing of 2-3 and 3-2 zone from ONU helped the visitors climb back into the game.
- Defense, which has become the calling card for the Cards this season, sealed the victory by holding ONU to the lowest scoring output by an opponent since Andy Winters took over the program. The Bolar Bears averaged 73 points-per-game entering tonight.
STATS THAT MATTER:
- Otterbein held ONU to five offensive rebounds; those second chances resulted in two points.
- Cam Evans, who has recently emerged as the second-leading scorer, led the way with 12-points off the bench.
- A trio of Cardinals (Bryson Lane, Reid Black, and Dallas Patrick) missed out on double-digits with nine points.
- The stifling Cardinal defense forced the Polar Bears to cough it up 16 times; the offense then turned those turnovers into 15 points.
UP NEXT:
On Saturday, Otterbein will travel to Tiffin for a 4 p.m. tip-off with No. 21 Heidelberg inside of Seiberling Gymnasium.
