WESTERVILLE — The Otterbein men's basketball team celebrated Senior Day with an 81-76 win over Ohio Athletic Conference foe Muskingum on Saturday.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (13-10 overall, 8-8 OAC), Muskingum (12-11 overall, 10-6 OAC)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio
• Prior to the game, Otterbein recognized graduate students Cam Evans and Brennan Rains and seniors Anthony Coppock, MJ Davis, Alex Hannah and Jared Kreager during a Senior Day ceremony.

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Evans led the Cardinals in scoring with 22 points to go with five rebounds. He made a pair of 3-pointers and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
• Sophomore Chase Garito tallied 15 points and seven rebounds.
• Redshirt junior Jarius Jones posted 14 points and seven rebounds. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
• Rains made a pair of 3-pointers as part of his 12 points to go with two assists.
• Junior Julian Heckman finished with nine points and four rebounds and led the team with four assists and three steals.

Game Highlights

• First Half: Trailing 7-6, Otterbein put together a 10-0 run via five points from Evans and two each from Heckman and Garito for a 16-7 lead with 13:26 remaining. A jumper from Garito later put the Cardinals up 20-9. After Muskingum got back to within five, 23-18, Rains made a 3-pointer, and a layup from junior Troy Scowden put the lead back to double digits, 28-18. The Muskies responded to get within three, 32-29, with 3:16 remaining, but the Cardinals came right back with a 10-2 run capped by an and-1 from Evans for a 42-31 lead en route to taking a 42-33 edge into halftime.
• Second Half: Another and-1 from Evans put the Cardinals up by nine, 47-38, with 15:44 left. After the Muskies got within four, 53-49, Otterbein answered with a 9-0 run, getting two points each from Garito, Jones and Heckman before a triple from Rains increased the lead to 13, 62-49, with 9:12 remaining. Muskingum again got within four, 65-61, but Heckman responded with a 3-pointer to help keep the Cardinals ahead. The Mukies kept themselves within striking distance, however, eventually getting within three, 75-72, on a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left. Forced to make free throws to preserve the lead, the Cardinals were a perfect 6-for-6 from the line over the final 20 seconds to seal the 81-76 victory.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 47.4% from the field and was 5-of-20 (25%) from 3-point range. Muskingum shot 50.8% from the field and was 13-of-24 (54.2%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 22-of-25 (88%) from the foul line, while the Muskies were 1-of-6 (16.7%). Otterbein out-rebounded Muskingum by a 40-24 margin.

Quotes

• Head coach Andy Winters: "I love these six seniors. If you look back on what they've accomplished over their time here helping believe in a coach's vision to get Otterbein back to a place of being in the top half of the conference and doing it consistently over their time is a credit to them and their hard work. I'm going to miss those guys a lot, but we still have a lot of season left."
• Graduate student Cam Evans: "I'm very blessed. I'm surrounded by my best friends, and my family was here on Senior Day. I'm just trying to take it all in, and I'm very thankful that we were able to get a win. I've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows in my career, but overall, there has been a ton of growth. I've become a better player and a better person off the court."
• Graduate student Brennan Rains: "I'm very blessed to be a part of this program. I've had an up-and-down this year, and I was just telling myself that I'm going to play so well today that they won't want to take me out. That's just the mentality I have - to always stay prepared and ready. Preparation builds confidence, and I was very confident going into this game, and I'm happy we won."

Notables

• Evans ranks eighth all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,648 points. Kevin Weakley ('95-'99) ranks seventh with 1,666 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in 19 games this season and is averaging a team-high 18.3 points per game. He entered Saturday ranked second in the OAC in scoring average (18.1 points per game) behind Muskingum's Duane Davis (18.9 points per game). Evans also ranked third in free throws made (98) and sixth in free-throw percentage (81%). Davis finished Saturday's game with a team-high 17 points.
• Heckman has scored in double figures in 14 games this season and is averaging 11 points per game. He entered Saturday ranked seventh in the OAC in steals (31), eighth in free-throw percentage (80.3%) and 10th in free throws made (61) and assists (58).
• Garito matched his season-high with 15 points on Saturday. He posted 15 points in three other games this season and is averaging 9.5 points per game. He has scored in double figures in five straight games and 13 games overall this season. He entered Saturday ranked eighth in the OAC in field-goal percentage (53.4%).
• Jones has scored in double figures in four of the past six games and is averaging 6 points per game.
• Rains' 12 points on Saturday marked a season high, besting the 11 points he scored against Hanover on Dec. 30.
• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 71-64 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Otterbein entered Saturday in fifth place in the OAC standings, three games behind fourth-place Muskingum and one game ahead of sixth-place Capital with two games remaining in the regular season. Ohio Northern and Baldwin Wallace are tied for seventh, one game behind Capital. The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament.
• Otterbein holds a 23-11 edge in the series against Muskingum dating back to 2008 and had won six straight meetings before falling 75-69 in New Concord earlier this season, on Jan. 11.