COLUMBUS — The Otterbein men's basketball team came away with a 79-62 rout at Ohio Athletic Conference foe Capital on Saturday in the Battle for the Oar rivalry en route to clinching the No. 5 seed in next week's OAC Tournament. Graduate student Cam Evans finished with 21 points to lead four Cardinals scoring in double figures, while senior Jared Kreager posted his second career double-double.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (14-11 overall, 9-9 OAC), Capital (10-15 overall, 7-11 OAC)
• Venue: Capital Center - Columbus, Ohio
• Otterbein is the No. 5 seed in the OAC Tournament and will play at No. 4 seed Muskingum in the first round on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
• OAC Tournament page

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Evans made a pair of 3-pointers and added five assists and one rebound to his 21 points.
• Sophomore Chase Garito finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
• Senior Alex Hannah tallied 11 points and two rebounds.
• Kreager posted a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double while adding two assists and three steals.
• Junior Julian Heckman added eight points, two rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
• Junior Troy Scowden finished with six points, five rebounds and three assists.

Game Highlights

• First Half: Leading 11-10, Otterbein put together a 7-0 run that included 3-pointers from Heckman and Evans that sandwiched a free throw from redshirt junior Jarius Jones. A triple from junior Reece Huber put the Cardinals up 21-12 with 10:04 left, but the Comets cut the deficit to three, 25-22, with 3:48 remaining. Back-to-back layups from Garito and Hannah increased the Cardinals' lead to seven, and a 3-pointer from Kreager made it an eight-point edge with 2:37 left. But the Comets were able to get within three, 36-33, going into halftime.
• Second Half: Capital scored the first basket of the second half on a dunk to get within one, but the Cardinals responded in a big way with a 13-0 run. That spurt included three points each from Kreager, Garito and Hannah and two each from Scowden and Evans and put Otterbein up 49-35 with 14:37 remaining. The lead grew to 18, 61-43, on a 3-pointer from Evans with 11 minutes left, and a jumper from Garito made it a 20-point edge with 8:11 remaining. A layup from Kreager put the Cardinals up by 21, 70-49, with 5:19 left en route to the 79-62 victory.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 54.2% from the field and was 10-of-21 (47.6%) from 3-point range. Capital shot 40% from the field and was 6-of-20 (30%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 5-of-10 (50%) from the foul line, while the Comets were 8-of-14 (57.1%). Otterbein out-rebounded Capital by a 37-31 margin.

Notables

• Evans ranks seventh all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,679 points. Jerry Dennis ('88-'92) ranks sixth with 1,833 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in 21 games this season and is averaging a team-high 18.1 points per game. He entered Saturday ranked second in the OAC in scoring average (18 points per game) behind Muskingum's Duane Davis (18.9 points per game). Evans also ranked third in free throws made (106) and fourth in free-throw percentage (81.5%).
• Heckman has scored in double figures in 14 games this season and is averaging 10.7 points per game. He entered Saturday ranked seventh in the OAC in steals (36), ninth in assists (68) and 10th in free-throw percentage (79.7%).
• Garito has scored in double figures in seven straight games and 15 games overall this season. He is averaging 10.2 points per game and entered Saturday ranked sixth in the OAC in field-goal percentage (54.3%).
• Kreager's 11 rebounds marked a single-game career high. Saturday marked his second career double-double after finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Mount Union earlier this season on Jan. 4.
• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 72-65 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Capital holds a 24-9 edge in the series against Otterbein dating back to 2009, but the Cardinals have won five of the past six meetings. In the teams' meeting earlier this season, on Jan. 18, the Cardinals came away with a 73-72 victory in Westerville.