WESTERVILLE — Sophomore Chase Garito scored a season-high 19 points as the Otterbein men's basketball team closed out its home regular-season schedule with a 69-64 loss to Ohio Northern in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (13-11 overall, 8-9 OAC), Ohio Northern (13-11 overall, 7-10 OAC)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Garito was 3-for-4 from 3-point range as part of his 19 points. He added five rebounds and two assists to his stat line.
• Senior Jared Kreager made a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points, a team-high seven rebounds and two steals.
• Graduate student Cam Evans tallied 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
• Junior Julian Heckman posted seven points, four rebounds and a team-high six assists.
• Redshirt junior Jarius Jones added seven points and four rebounds.

Game Highlights

• First Half: After the teams played to a 13-all tie, ONU went on to take a 21-17 lead with 4:55 remaining in what was a defensive-minded first half. A 3-pointer from Kreager pulled the Cardinals within one, but a layup from the Polar Bears kept the visitors ahead. A layup from Evans got Otterbein back within one with 57 seconds remaining, but ONU added a jumper with 27 seconds left to take a 25-22 edge into halftime.
• Second Half: The Polar Bears extended their lead to six, 31-25, with 17:49 left and went up by nine, 39-30, with 14:50 remaining. The ONU lead grew to 16, 51-35, with 9:35 left, but the Cardinals continued to fight. Otterbein responded with a 13-3 run to get back within six, 54-48, with 6:01 remaining. That spurt was highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Garito to go with three points from Evans and two points each from Heckman and Kreager. But the Polar Bears answered with a 6-0 run to take a 12-point edge, 60-48, with 5:18 left. Again trailing by 12 with 3:49 remaining, the Cardinals put together a 7-0 run courtesy of two points each from junior Troy Scowden, Garito, junior Reece Huber and one point from Evans to get within five, 63-58, with 1:59 left. A jumper from Garito followed by a layup from Evans had the Cardinals within two, 64-62, with 44 seconds remaining, but that was as close as they would come. Evans answered a pair of ONU free throws with a jumper to get the Cardinals back within two with 14 seconds left, but the Polar Bears responded with two more free throws at the other end and added one more with four seconds left following a missed 3-pointer from Heckman to secure the 69-64 win.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 45.3% from the field and was 7-of-18 (38.9%) from 3-point range. Ohio Northern shot 44.2% from the field and was 5-of-18 (27.8%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 9-of-14 (64.3%) from the foul line, while the Polar Bears were 18-of-25 (72%). Otterbein out-rebounded Ohio Northern by a 35-29 margin.

Notables

• Evans ranks eighth all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,658 points. Kevin Weakley ('95-'99) ranks seventh with 1,666 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in 20 games this season and is averaging a team-high 18 points per game. He entered Wednesday ranked second in the OAC in scoring average (18.3 points per game) behind Muskingum's Duane Davis (18.8 points per game). Evans also ranked third in free throws made (104) and fourth in free-throw percentage (81.9%).
• Heckman has scored in double figures in 14 games this season and is averaging 10.8 points per game. He entered Wednesday tied for sixth in the OAC in steals (34) and ranked seventh in free-throw percentage (80.8%) and tied for ninth in free throws made (63) and assists (62).
• Garito has scored in double figures in six straight games and 14 games overall this season. He is averaging 9.9 points per game and entered Wednesday ranked seventh in the OAC in field-goal percentage (53.4%). His previous season-high point total was 15, which he posted in four different games.
• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 71-65 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Otterbein entered Wednesday in fifth place in the OAC standings, two games behind fourth-place Muskingum and two games ahead of a sixth-place tie between Ohio Northern, Baldwin Wallace and Capital with one more game left in the regular season. The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament.
• Ohio Northern holds a 19-13 edge in the series against Otterbein dating back to 2009, but the Cardinals have won seven of the past 10 meetings. In the teams' meeting earlier this season, on Jan. 15, the Cardinals came away with a 56-53 victory in Ada.