Westville, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's basketball team suffered an 81-67 loss at Otterbein University on Saturday afternoon.
The Yeomen, who shot just 42.9 (24-of-56) percent from the floor, were plagued by 20 turnovers that led to 17 points for the Cardinals.
Joshua Friedkin was a bright spot on the offensive end as he poured in 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting, which included an impressive 4-of-7 effort from beyond the arc. Junior classmate
Andre Campbell also notched his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Otterbein, who notched its first victory since January 27, 2018 and just their second since January 7, 2017, got a game-high 36 points from Jay Joseph.
The Cardinals got off to a hot start before the Yeomen were able to settle in. A 3-pointer from
Nile Godfrey cut the Otterbein lead down to 17-16 at the 11:29 mark but five minutes later the Cardinals pushed the margin back out to 10, 34-24. A 10-0 Yeomen response that featured a triple from Friedkin and three points from Campbell tied the game. However, Oberlin mustered just one point over the final 3:40 of the half as Otterbein carried a 41-35 advantage into the intermission.
A couple of threes from the Yeomen early in the second half helped them tie it at 43 but a 9-0 Otterbein spurt created another 10-point separation for the Yeomen to try and overcome. Later trailing 63-49, a string of eight straight points had Oberlin within two possessions with just under seven minutes to go but they would get no closer the rest of the way.
The Cardinals shot 51.9 percent from the floor with 28 makes on 54 shots while also cashing in on 12-of-14 (85.7%) free throws. Oberlin, which came in shooting nearly 82 percent at the charity stripe, went just 10-of-17 for a 58.8 percent clip.
Oberlin won the battle of the boards 39-26 but Otterbein outscored them 40-26 in the paint and saw their bench bunch outscore its Yeomen counterparts 26-8.
The loss dropped the Yeomen back to 2-2 on the year, while Otterbein moved to 1-2.
Oberlin will have some time to regroup, being idle from competition until December 1 at Wittenberg University. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
