TIFFIN — Graduate student Cam Evans led the way with 19 points as the Otterbein men's basketball team fell 73-67 in overtime at Heidelberg in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday. The tightly contested game featured 14 ties and 14 lead changes.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (10-9 overall, 5-7 OAC), Heidelberg (13-6 overall, 9-3 OAC)
• Venue: Seiberling Gymnasium - Tiffin, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Evans added eight rebounds and two assists to his team-high 19 points.
• Sophomore Chase Garito tallied 11 points and five rebounds.
• Junior Julian Heckman posted 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
• Senior Jared Kreager added eight points, seven rebounds and two assists.
• Senior Alex Hannah finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

Game Highlights

• First Half: The Cardinals jumped out to a 7-2 lead early on behind four points from junior Troy Scowden and a 3-pointer from Garito. Heidelberg responded with a 7-0 run for a 9-7 lead with 15:04 remaining before Evans tied the score with a jumper off of an offensive rebound with 13:03 left. Evans later answered a Heidelberg 3-pointer with one of his own to tie the score at 12 with 12:25 remaining, and a triple from Kreager followed by a layup from Garito put the Cardinals up 17-14 with 11:09 left. Redshirt junior Jarius Jones completed an and-1, and freshman Noah Gamble followed with a layup for a 24-17 Otterbein lead with 4:41 left. The Student Princes had an answer, though, putting together a 5-0 run to get back within two with 3:17 remaining. Heckman converted a steal into an and-1 that put the Cardinals up 31-24 with 1:17 left, and Otterbein entered halftime leading 31-26. Garito led a balanced Otterbein scoring effort at the break with seven points to go with six from Scowden.
• Second Half: Otterbein came out strong to open the second half, putting together a 9-2 run for a 40-28 edge with 17:03 remaining. Evans opened the scoring with a 3-pointer as part of five points in that stretch to go with four from Garito. But the Student Princes had a decisive response in the form of a 17-3 run for a 45-43 lead with 10:08 remaining before the Cardinals regained the lead on a 3-pointer from Hannah with 9:35 left. A jumper from Heckman followed by a layup from Evans gave the Cardinals a 50-47 advantage with 6:32 remaining. After Heidelberg got within one, Hannah answered with a straightaway 3-pointer to put the Otterbein lead at 53-49 with 5:24 remaining. The Student Princes later took a 54-53 edge courtesy of a 3-pointer with 3:45 left. Heckman came up with a big-time shot, getting a contested 3-pointer off just before the shot clock buzzer sounded for a 58-54 Cardinal lead with 2:19 left. After a Heidelberg miss on the other end, Evans added a layup to increase the lead to six with 1:50 remaining. But the Student Princes had another run left in them, taking a 61-60 lead on an and-1 with 19 seconds left. With nothing building offensively, the Cardinals called a timeout with 8.5 seconds remaining, and Evans was fouled shortly after the inbounds pass, giving him a one-and-one at the foul line with 6.3 seconds left. Evans calmly made the first free throw to tie the score going into a Heidelberg timeout and then gave the Cardinals the lead with another make. Heidelberg's Markell Johnson-Nichols was fouled with about two seconds left and proceeded to miss the front end of a one-and-one, but Eric Panning grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. He split the ensuing two free throws to tie the score at 62, and Hannah was fouled on the rebound with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Hannah missed the front end of the one-and-one at the other end, sending the game to overtime.
• Overtime: Neither team led by more than two for most of the period, but the Student Princes stretched their advantage to three, 68-65, on a jumper with 1:24 left. A free throw put Heidelberg up by four with 51 seconds remaining, and a missed 3-pointer from Hannah gave the ball back to the Student Princes. Two more free throws stretched the lead to six with 21 seconds left, and a Kreager layup got Otterbein within four, 71-67, with eight seconds remaining. Heidelberg proceeded to convert a pair of free throws at the other end en route to the victory.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 38.8% from the field and was 8-of-26 (30.8%) from 3-point range. Heidelberg shot 43.1% from the field and was 3-of-16 (18.8%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the foul line, while the Student Princes were 20-of-30 (66.7%). Otterbein out-rebounded Heidelberg by a 47-37 margin.

Notables

• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 68-63 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Evans passed Mike McKinney ('82-'86, 1,582 points) to rank eighth all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,584 points. Kevin Weakley ('95-'99) ranks seventh with 1,666 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in 16 games this season and is averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game. He entered Saturday ranked second in the OAC in scoring average (18.8 points per game) and free throws made (83) and fourth in free-throw percentage (82.2%).
• Saturday marked Garito's ninth double-figure scoring game of the season, putting his scoring average at 8.8 points per game.
• Heckman has scored in double figures in 13 games this season and is averaging 11.4 points per game. He entered Saturday ranked third in the OAC in free-throw percentage (83.1%) and eighth in free throws made (54).
• Otterbein entered Saturday in fifth place in the OAC standings, three games behind a two-way tie for third between Heidelberg and Muskingum.
• Heidelberg holds a 27-5 edge in the series against Otterbein dating back to 2009 and has won six straight meetings. In the teams' meeting earlier this season, on Dec. 14, the Student Princes came away with a 96-76 win in Westerville.