WESTERVILLE — Redshirt junior Jarius Jones recorded a double-double and led four Cardinals scoring in double figures as the Otterbein men's basketball team defeated Marietta 71-64 in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (11-9 overall, 6-7 OAC), Marietta (10-10 overall, 4-9 OAC)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Jones led the way with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, all of which were team highs.
• Senior Jared Kreager posted 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists. He was 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
• Sophomore Chase Garito tallied 13 points and four rebounds.
• Graduate student Cam Evans finished with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
• Junior Julian Heckman added six points, three rebounds and two assists.

Game Highlights

• First Half: The Pioneers got out to a hot start in building an 11-0 lead. But the Cardinals responded with a 13-2 run to tie the score at 13 with 13:29 left. Senior Alex Hannah spearheaded that run with five points to go with three each from Evans and Kreager and two from Jones. Otterbein took its first lead of the game, 19-18, on an and-1 from freshman Noah Gamble with 11:01 remaining, and a layup from Heckman extended the lead to five, 23-18, with 8:16 left. A triple from Kreager followed by a jumper from Heckman put the Cardinals up 28-20 with 5:29 left. The lead grew to 11, 37-26, on a 3-pointer from Kreager followed by a layup from Garito, and a pair of free throws from Jones with four seconds remaining sent the Cardinals into halftime up by 12, 40-28.
• Second Half: An and-1 from Evans had the Cardinals back up by 12, 47-35, with 14:26 left, but the Pioneers responded to get within three, 49-46, with 11:43 remaining. Marietta eventually pulled within one, 56-55, with 5:16 left before Otterbein answered with layups from Jones and Heckman and a pair of free throws from Jones to extend the lead to seven with 2:47 remaining. A jumper from Garito again had the lead at seven, 64-57, with 2:01 remaining, but the Pioneers continued showing resolve, getting within two, 64-62, with 1:03 left. Evans made a pair of free throws, and Jones split a pair from the line to put the lead at five with 28 seconds left. A 2-point jumper from Marietta got the Pioneers within three, but the Cardinals closed out strong, as Evans and Jones both made a pair of free throws over the final 15 seconds to sandwich a Pioneer miss from 3-point range to secure the victory.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 45.3% from the field and was 7-of-22 (31.8%) from 3-point range. Marietta shot 43.1% from the field and was 6-of-24 (25%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 16-of-19 (84.2%) from the foul line, while the Pioneers were 8-of-10 (80%). Otterbein out-rebounded Marietta by a 37-29 margin.

Quotes

• Head coach Andy Winters: "This game speaks to how good our league is top to bottom. Every game is a grind. Whether it's home or away, you have to come ready to play. Credit to Marietta for coming out strong, and then our guys responded. I'm proud of us, especially handling this after a tough loss last game. We're looking forward to our next challenge on Saturday, but I'm proud of our guys tonight."
• Redshirt junior Jarius Jones: "It was a bad start to the game, but we locked in, and I knew I had to push my teammates to elevate to a level that I knew we could to get the momentum back on our side. It was astounding for us. We needed that for our momentum for the rest of the season. I'm just glad we got this win, and now the momentum is back on our side for Saturday's game."

Notables

• Jones recorded season-highs in points, rebounds and assists on Wednesday as part of his first double-double as a Cardinal.
• Kreager matched his career-high with 14 points from Jan. 15 at Ohio Northern. Wednesday marked his ninth game of the season to score in double figures. He is averaging 8.6 points per game.
• Garito has scored in double figures in 10 games this season and is averaging 9.1 points per game.
• Evans ranks eighth all-time at Otterbein in career scoring with 1,594 points. Kevin Weakley ('95-'99) ranks seventh with 1,666 points.
• Evans has scored in double figures in 17 games this season and is averaging a team-high 18.4 points per game. He entered Wednesday ranked second in the OAC in scoring average (18.8 points per game) and free throws made (86) and sixth in free-throw percentage (81.1%).
• Heckman has scored in double figures in 13 games this season and is averaging 11.2 points per game. He entered Wednesday ranked fifth in the OAC in free-throw percentage (81.4%) and seventh in free throws made (57).
• Head coach Andy Winters is in his sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 69-63 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Otterbein entered Wednesday in fifth place in the OAC standings, three games behind fourth-place Muskingum. Marietta entered the day in a four-way tie for sixth place with Ohio Northern, Baldwin Wallace and Capital. The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament.
• Marietta holds a 26-7 edge in the series against Otterbein dating back to 2008, but the Cardinals have won four of the past five meetings. Three of the past six meetings have gone to overtime, including two double-overtime games. In the teams' meeting earlier this season, on Dec. 17, Otterbein came away with a 77-70 double-overtime win in Marietta.