TIFFIN, Ohio – An incredibly tight, narrow, important, energetic and action-packed game between Otterbein and Heidelberg went right down to the wire in Seiberling Gymnasium, where the home side escaped 79-78 following a few controversial sequences (both ways) in the final seconds.

Otterbein, trailing Heidelberg by one game for third place in the OAC standings, led almost the entire second half before a late push by the Student Princes created a hectic finish. When it was all said and done, the hosts emerged after a few offensive attempts came up empty for the Cardinals.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT:

• Heidelberg led by double digits early in the game but Otterbein inched back, outscoring the hosts 26-16 across the remainder of the half to force a 35-35 deadlock at intermission.
   
• Julian Heckman drilled a pair of three-pointers early in the second half and the Cards remained on top (or tied) for the next 17-ish minutes. Otterbein found its biggest lead of eight multiple times, the last being 65-57 just across the midway point after a trifecta from Cam Evans.
   
• The Student Princes regrouped from there and eventually knotted the game at 70, 72, 74 and 77, with the latter tie coming on a triple hit from Isaiah Young moments after Heckman sank his own from the top of the key.
   
• All sorts of chaos ensued over the final 90 seconds. Heidelberg went ahead 79-77 and MJ Davis split a pair of free throws, leaving the Cards a single point shy at the eventual final score. Otterbein got a defensive stop, brought the ball across half court and called timeout with 21 seconds left.
   
• Star Heidelberg big man Eric Panning blocked a driving layup from Jack Clement and went to the ground, barely holding possession of the ball before getting called for a travel. That gave possession back to the Cards under the hoop with 12 seconds left.
   
• Otterbein then inbounded the ball to Evans, who maneuvered into the lane and drew an easy whistle going up into his shooting motion. However, the foul was deemed to have occurred on the floor and forced a baseline out of bounds yet again… with 6.1 seconds on the clock now.
   
• Unfortunately, a corner three from Heckman just missed the mark and (after video review) the rebound was declared to have hit out of bounds right as time expired… end of game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Heckman tallied a career-high 21 points and season-high seven rebounds, shooting 8 of 15 on the day in the process. He also had four assists.
   
• Clement and Chase Garito both scored 16 while MJ Davis had nine off the bench.
   
• Otterbein (.518) shot a full 10 percentage points better than Heidelberg (.418) and tied a season-high with 13 makes behind the arc.
   
• The Student Princes only gave the ball away five times and, subsequently, held a 19-5 edge in points off turnovers.
   
• Four reached double figures in scoring for Heidelberg, which sweeps the season series and would now hold any potential OAC tiebreakers for the postseason.

UP NEXT:

• The Cardinals will have to shake this game off and regroup for another road affair to begin next week, heading down to Wilmington on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.