WESTERVILLE — Sophomore Chase Garito and seniors Alex Hannah and Jared Kreager reached double figures in scoring as the Otterbein men's basketball team fell 71-59 to John Carroll in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (7-5 overall, 2-3 OAC), John Carroll (8-4 overall, 3-2 OAC)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Garito led the Cardinals with 15 points to go with five rebounds and three assists.
• Hannah made a team-high three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
• Kreager added 10 points and five rebounds.
• Junior Julian Heckman posted nine points, two rebounds and four assists.
• Graduate student Cam Evans added six points, four rebounds and a team-high five assists.
• Redshirt junior Jarius Jones finished with six points and two rebounds.

Game Highlights

• First Half: John Carroll opened up a 19-9 lead capped by a 3-pointer with 11:37 remaining before Otterbein got four straight points from Jones and a free throw from Heckman to get back within five, 19-14, with 10:07 left. The Blue Streaks later extended their lead to 12, 35-23, with 2:26 remaining and led by that margin at 37-25 going into halftime.
• Second Half: John Carroll extended its lead to 15, 42-27, on a layup with 16:51 remaining, but the Cardinals were able to fight back within single digits. A 3-pointer from Hannah followed by an and-1 from Evans got the Cardinals within nine, 42-33, with 15:14 remaining, and another triple from Hannah cut the deficit to seven, 45-38, with 13:31 left. The Blue Streaks again built their lead out to double digits, and Otterbein was unable to draw any closer than eight, 59-51 on a 3-pointer from Kreager with 5:29 left, for the remainder of the game.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 38.5% from the field and was 8-of-26 (30.8%) from 3-point range. John Carroll shot 43.6% from the field and was 7-of-20 (35%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the foul line, while the Blue Streaks were 16-of-21 (76.2%). John Carroll out-rebounded Otterbein by a 36-32 margin.

Notables

• Garito's 15 points tied his season-high point total, matching his output from Dec. 17 against Marietta and Dec. 30 against Hanover.
• Hannah's 11 points marked a season high. His previous best this season was eight points on a pair of occasions.
• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 65-59 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Evans ranks 11th all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,453 points. Kelly McClure ('92-'96) ranks 10th with 1,484 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in nine games this season and is averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game. The reigning OAC Player of the Week, Evans entered Wednesday ranked second in the OAC in scoring average.
• Heckman has scored in double figures in nine games this season and is averaging 12.9 points per game.
• John Carroll holds a 28-6 edge in the series against Otterbein dating back to 2008, but the Cardinals own three victories against the Blue Streaks since 2022.
• Otterbein and John Carroll entered Wednesday in a four-way tie with Ohio Northern and Baldwin Wallace for fourth place in the OAC standings behind conference leader Mount Union and co-runners-up Heidelberg and Muskingum.