When the Wilmington Quakers and the Otterbein Cardinals took the floor, it was a battle between one of the top offensive scoring teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) against the top defensive team in the OAC.
The Cardinals came into the game ranked third offensively, averaging 80 points a game.
The Quakers lead the OAC defensively, only giving up an average of 65 points per game.
Otterbein was only trailing 30 to 27 after the first half, but the Quakers were able to outscore the Cardinals 49 to 38 in the second to pull away with a 79-65 victory.
The Quakers were led by sophomore Brandon Rogers.
Rogers, a 6-foot-7 forward from Xenia, tallied a double-double scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
Although Rogers was held to three points in the first half, he was able to explode and score 17 points in the second.
Wilmington shot 48 percent from the floor and they were able to get to the free throw line 21 times, connecting on 19 of those opportunities.
The Cardinals' offense was led by sophomore guard Brian Pollock.
Pollock had four three-pointersand scored a team high of 18 points.Senior point-guard Ross Banaszak and senior guard Adam Wells chipped in 15 and 14 points respectively.
Sophomore forward Cory Ratai led the Cardinals in rebounding, pulling down eight boards while also scoring 10 points.
Otterbein was able to hit 41 percent of their shots from the field.
The Cardinals were perfect from the free throw line but only managed 10 free throw attempts for the game.
The Cardinals turned the ball over 10 times, compared to the Quakers' seven, but many of the Cardinals turnovers came at crucial parts of the game.
Pollock said, "We made too many turnovers at the end...it cost us the game."
One of only two seniors, Banaszak has consistently produced for the Cardinals.
Offensively, Banaszak leads the OAC in scoring, netting 19.9 points per game. He also leads the OAC in free throw percentage,knocking down 83 percent of his attempts.Banaszak contributes with a rank of second in the OAC for 31 steals.
"Glad I am a senior with this group of guys," said Banaszak. "I hope we can get a few more wins."
This Saturday the Cardinals travel to Capital to face the rival Crusaders. The Crusaders are currently ranked No. 16 in the nation, with a perfect 7-0 record in the OAC and 12-2 overall record.
While not boasting quite the same record as Capital, Otterbein heads into Bexley with a league record of 2-6 and overall record 3-12.Although this year's record is not as good as it has been in the past, Otterbein fans still show their support at the games.
"Over the years, our attendance and student support, whether we have a good team or not so good team (record wise) has always been among the best in DIII," said Coach Reynolds.
"We have always appreciated that support, and the Capital game just adds a little excitement to the athletic contest."
If you cannot make it to Bexleyon Saturday, the game will be broadcasted on Columbus Sports Network (CSN) at 8 p.m.
