WESTERVILLE — Graduate student Cam Evans was named Most Valuable Player of the Smokey Ballenger Classic after scoring 24 points to lead the Otterbein men's basketball team in an 89-64 win over Hanover (Ind.) on the second and final day of the event on Monday.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (7-3 overall), Hanover (6-5 overall)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio
• The Smokey Ballenger Classic is a two-day, eight-game men's and women's basketball event collecting non-perishable food items for The Promise House and Westerville Area Resource Ministry (W.A.R.M.) and cash donations for the Coaches vs. Cancer cause. For more information, click here.
• Joining Evans on the All-Tournament Team were Hanover's Malachi McNair, Denison's Darren Rubin and Olivet's Conner Schipper.

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Evans was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line and added six rebounds and four assists to his 24 points.
• Junior Julian Heckman was 3-for-4 from 3-point range and finished with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Sophomore Chase Garito made a pair of 3-pointers and posted 15 points and two rebounds.
• Graduate student Brennan Rains was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and tallied 11 points.
• Senior Anthony Coppock finished with eight points and six rebounds.
• Senior Jared Kreager added four points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Game Highlights

• First Half: Hanover jumped out to a 20-11 lead with 12:51 left and led by nine, 28-19, with 9:48 remaining. That's when the Cardinals got a spark from Rains, who made back-to-back 3-pointers, and Garito followed with a jumper to fuel an 8-0 run to get the Cardinals within one, 28-27, with 6:41 remaining. A 2-point jumper from Coppock tied the score at 29 with 6:10 left, and an and-1 from Garito put the Cardinals up 37-33 with 4:40 remaining. A tip-in from Coppock put Otterbein up by seven, 43-36, with 1:08 left, and the Cardinals capped the first-half scoring with an and-1 from Evans to go into halftime leading by nine, 46-37.
• Second Half: The Panthers cut the deficit to as little as three, 61-58, with 8:57 remaining, but Garito answered with a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 run that also included two points each from Kreager, Garito and Heckman and one from Evans for a 71-58 edge with 4:10 left. The Cardinals maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game en route to the 15-point victory.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 53.6% from the field and was 8-of-21 (38.1%) from 3-point range. Hanover shot 50% from the field and was 4-of-19 (21.1%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 16-of-21 (76.2%) from the foul line, while the Panthers were 11-of-14 (78.6%). Otterbein out-rebounded Hanover by a 37-21 margin.

Notables

• Evans earned MVP honors after averaging 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists per game in wins over Olivet and Hanover in the Smokey Ballenger Classic.
• Garito's 15 points tied a season high, matching his total against Marietta on Dec. 17.
• Rains' 11 points marked a season high.
• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 65-57 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Otterbein and Hanover last played in November 2017, with the Panthers coming away with a 71-68 win in the Thomas More Classic in Crestview Hills, Ky.
• Evans ranks 11th all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,428 points. Kelly McClure ('92-'96) ranks 10th with 1,484 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in eight of 10 games this season and is averaging a team-high 20.1 points per game.
• Heckman has scored in double figures in eight games this season and is averaging 13.5 points per game.