The Otterbein University men’s basketball team lost a close game Wednesday night to the Quakers of Wilmington College in the Rike Center, 69-63.
Wilmington moves on to 7-8 overall and 4-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Otterbein drops to 3-13 overall and 2-7 in the OAC.
The Cardinals came out strong to begin the game, holding the lead for the entirety of the first half. Otterbein even extended their lead to as many as 13 points on two different occasions, once with six minutes left and then again with 55 seconds left.
Otterbein would go into halftime ahead of the Quakers, 33-23.
Wilmington seemed to come out of the locker room with a chip on their shoulder, as they took over the game in the second half.
Otterbein held on to their lead until just over seven minutes left in the contest when Wilmington took their first lead of the game, 48-46.
The Cardinals would tie the match up again at 48-48, but they wouldn’t regain the lead for the rest of the game.
Despite keeping within 10 points of the Quakers for the remainder of the half, Otterbein couldn’t overcome the deficit and fell, 69-63.
Head coach Todd Adrian wasn’t pleased with his team for losing their first-half lead.
“In the first half, when we were up, we needed to put them away and we didn’t,” Adrian said. “I’m very disappointed and I apologize to the Otterbein faithful and the Cardinal fans.”
Sophomore point guard Jake Phillis led the Cardinals with 17 points. Junior forward Marc McCuen was a rebound away from a double-double, recording 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Cardinals next travel to Alliance this Saturday to take on the Purple Raiders of the University of Mount Union. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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