Hot Shooting Lifts Heidelberg Over Otterbein, 95-77

The Heidelberg College men’s basketball team shot a school-record 72.7 percent (8-11) behind the arc in an 18-point win over Otterbein. The Student Princes improve to 8-5 overall and 4-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference while the Cardinals fall to 7-6 and 3-3 in the OAC.

The Berg’s win over the Cardinals is the first in Westerville since January 27, 1999, when Heidelberg defeated Otterbein 77-75.

Junior Shawn Shriver (Bellevue, Ohio / Western Reserve) led Heidelberg in scoring with 22 points on 8-13 shooting from the field, including 3-3 from beyond the arc. Junior Andrew Lemmon (Port Clinton, Ohio / Port Clinton) came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and grab eight boards. Sophomore Chad Szalay (Lorain, Ohio / Clearview) added 18 points, including a perfect 8-8 mark from the charity stripe. Senior Ron Higgins (Vermilion, Ohio / Firelands) scored 15 and grabbed a team-high nine boards.

Tyler Ousley led Otterbein with 30 points, while Ross Banaszak chipped in 17.

After a back and fourth opening minutes of the game, Heidelberg went on an 11-3 run to hold a 17-10 lead with 11:17 remaining in the half. Otterbein cut the lead to one with a pair of Banaszak free-throws with 15 seconds left , but a Shriver jumper as time expired gave Heidelberg a 39-36 lead into halftime.

Shriver added a three-pointer to begin the second half and push the Heidelberg lead to six, but a 10-2 run gave the Cardinals there biggest lead of the game, 46-44 with 16:46 remaining. Otterbein led by one at the 14:31 mark when a junior Matt Eberle (Grove City, Ohio / Central Crossing) lay-up and a trey and lay-up by Lemmon gave Heidelberg the lead for good. The Cardinals tried to stage a comeback but hot shooting sealed the game for Heidelberg. The Student Princes shot 17-27 (63 percent) from the field and 16-19 (84.2 percent) from the charity stripe in the half.

For the contest, Heidelberg shot 32-57 (53.1 percent) from the field, compared to 29-58 (50 percent for Otterbein). The Student Princes led the Cardinals 33-28 in rebounding and also led Otterbein 24-5 in bench scoring.

Heidelberg returns to action Wednesday when they host John Carroll. Tip-off with the Blue Streaks is set for 7:30 p.m.