Rushton, Bair lead Men's Basketball in 61-55 loss to Otterbein

ADA — Sophomore Brandon Rushton scored 14 points and freshman Adam Bair added 10, but Otterbein rallied late for a 61-55 Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball victory at the ONU Sports Center on Wednesday night.

With their first conference loss, the Polar Bears move to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the OAC, while Otterbein improves to 3-3 overall and 2-0 in league play.

Senior Scott Schnelle finished with three points, ten rebounds and five blocks for ONU.

Max Van Meter led Otterbein with 15 points, while RaNeal Ewing put in 14 points and Chris Davis scored six points and hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds.

The back-and-forth battle included nine lead changes and six ties, but with the score tied at 51-51 with 3:09 to play, the Cardinals went on a 6-0 run to take a lead they never relented.

ONU took control early, jumping out to a quick 12-4 lead, gaining the biggest lead of the game for either squad.

An 11-2 Otterbein run followed, giving the Cardinals their first lead 12:29 into the game.

The teams traded the lead five more times in the first half, until Rushton scored six straight points and freshman Isiah Roux made it an 8-0 Polar Bear run, giving ONU a 26-23 lead into the break.

ONU pushed the lead to 38-30 at the 13:03 mark, but an Otterbein timeout sparked a 12-2 run that allowed the Cardinals to retake the lead, 42-40, with 7:56 to go.

After a pair of free throws from sophomore Dominique Royal, back-to-back buckets by freshman Lucas Pennington and junior Tony Meyer gave ONU a 46-42 lead with 6:53 remaining.

Otterbein finished the game on a 19-9 run, which included a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line, to finish out the win.

The Cardinalsshor 43.1 percent from the floor (22 of 51), while ONU shot 40.0 percent from the floor (20 of 50).

Rebounding was even at 34-34 and ONU had a slight edge in the turnover battle, 17-15.

Royal finished with nine points and five boards, and sophomore Jared Horstman earned six points, four rebounds and four assists.

ONU will look to rebound on Saturday as the team hosts John Carroll in a conference matchup at 3 p.m.