A very young Otterbein men’s basketball team suffered two losses during the Smokey Ballenger Tournament this past weekend at the Rike: 90-71 to Ohio Christian University on Friday and 89-74 to Centre College, Ky.
Otterbein is currently 1-3 on the season and has yet to play an OAC game.
On day one of the tournament, Otterbein kept up with the defending NCCAA Division II national champions during the first half of the game, being only down by six. But, Ohio Christian went on an 8-0 run to open the second half, and the Cardinals were not able to keep up. OCU ended the game on a 10-4 run, closing the door on Otterbein, 90-71.
Sophomore guard Jake Bischoff led the Cardinals with 21 points in the loss. Junior forward Marshall Crum led the team with 10 rebounds and freshman point guard Jake Phillis led with six assists.
Otterbein looked to make a comeback the following day but would come up short once again.
The nationally ranked Centre College jumped out quick with an 8-0 lead over the Cardinals, and never looked back, taking a 47-28 lead at half. Otterbein tried to close the gap in the second half, but could not keep up as Centre took the game, 89-74.
This time, Phillis led the charge for Otterbein with 11 points, with Bischoff not too far behind him with 10 points. Senior forward Jon Juergens led with eight rebounds, and Bischoff led with three assists.
Head Coach Todd Adrian said he looked at this tournament in a positive way because of how well the underclassmen performed, with underclassmen leading the scoring for both games. He said he understands that this team is young, but knows that with more experience, this will be a team to reckon with two years down the line.
The men’s basketball team plays next on Wednesday, Dec. 4 against Marietta at 7:30 p.m.
