WESTERVILLE — Graduate student Cam Evans scored 22 points to lead the Otterbein men's basketball team in a 96-76 loss to Heidelberg in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (4-3 overall, 1-1 OAC), Heidelberg (5-4 overall, 2-1 OAC)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Evans made a team-high two 3-pointers and added five rebounds to his 22 points.
• Junior Julian Heckman was 3-for-3 from the free-throw line and finished with 12 points to go with two rebounds and four assists.
• Sophomore Chase Garito was the third of three Cardinals to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points to go with four rebounds.
• Redshirt junior Jarius Jones added seven points and a team-best six rebounds along with two assists.
• Junior Troy Scowden had seven points and two rebounds.

Game Highlights

• First Half: Otterbein built an early 14-8 lead, as Garito got the scoring started with a 2-point jumper and had four points in that stretch along with Jones and Evans to go with two from Heckman. Heidelberg came back to tie the score at 16 with 11:50 left, and the teams played to a 26-26 tie with 5:59 remaining. The Student Princes made a 3-pointer with 5:17 left for a 29-26 edge, and extended their lead to seven, 34-27, with 4:03 remaining. Otterbein responded with an 11-2 run to take a 38-36 lead in a spurt that included three points each from Evans, Heckman and senior Jared Kreager and two from Jones. But Heidelberg closed the half with four straight points to go into the break leading 40-38.
• Second Half: The Student Princes opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and extended their lead to 13, 57-44, on another triple with 15:01 remaining. A 3-pointer from Heckman got the Cardinals back within nine, 58-49, with 13:44 left, but the Student Princes answered with a triple of their own and led by double digits for the remainder of the game.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 44.1% from the field and was 7-of-26 (26.9%) from 3-point range. Heidelberg shot 51.5% from the field and was 14-of-24 (58.3%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 9-of-13 (69.2%) from the foul line, while the Student Princes were 12-of-14 (85.7%). Heidelberg out-rebounded Otterbein by a 40-35 margin.

Notables

• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 62-57 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Heidelberg has now won five straight meetings with Otterbein. The Cardinals' last win over the Student Princes came on Feb. 12, 2022.
• Evans ranks 15th all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,356 points. Tony Borghese ('01-'05) ranks 14th with 1,364 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in five of seven games this season and is averaging a team-high 18.4 points per game.
• Heckman has scored in double figures in five games this season and is averaging 12.9 points per game.
• Evans (20-of-24) and Heckman (29-of-31) have combined to shoot 89.1% from the free-throw line this season.