The eighth seeded Otterbein Cardinals lost in the second round of the OAC tournament to the fifth seeded Mount Union Purple Raiders Tuesday night. Mount Union won 66-60 and will advance to play the first-seeded Capital Crusaders Thursday night.
The Purple Raiders swept Otterbein in the regular season, and they were able to make it three for three, picking up their first OAC Tournament win since 2005.
The Purple Raiders got off to a quick start taking a 19-9 lead early in the first half. Otterbein would respond, however, and trail by just two, 33-31 at the half.
The Cardinals would take the lead for the first time, 43-42, off a Jon Juergens layup with 13:33 remaining in the second half. Mount Union would then go on a 15-4 run out of a timeout to regain a 57-47 lead with 7:52 remaining in the contest.
Otterbein would again charge back with Freshman Guard Jake Bischoff hitting a three with 4:33 remaining to ignite the Otterbein travelers and make it a three point game with the Cards trailing 59-56. Mount Union would go on to gain some breathing room taking a 64-57 lead before another Bischoff three-pointer would make it a 64-60 game with 1:27 remaining in regulation.
Senior Forward Zach Bakenhaster then drew a charge on Mount Union’s Stevie Griffin on the Purple Raiders’ next offensive possession.
A jump ball then gave the ball back to Mount with a four point lead and 27 seconds remaining. This forced the Cardinals to foul, and the Purple Raiders were able to make free throws down the stretch to come away with the 66-60 win and advance to the OAC semifinals against Capital on Saturday.
Mount Union’s Stevie Griffin led all scorers in the contest with 21 points. Otterbein’s leading scorers were junior Max Van Meter and freshman Jake Bischoff who scored 12 each, while Zach Bakenhaster and C.J. Julian each added nine.
An Otterbein win would have gotten Otterbein to the OAC semifinals for the first time since the 2002 National Championship season. Todd Adrian’s squad finished the year with an overall record of 8-19.
The women’s team from Mount Union was also victorious Tuesday, and they will now travel to Otterbein for the OAC semifinals to face the number two seeded Cardinals. Tip-off in the Rike is at 7:30.
