Box Score A hot shooting start for John Carroll wasn't enough to take down the Otterbein Cardinals tonight, as the Blue & Gold rroll fell 82-76, eliminating them from the opening round of the OAC tournament and ending their season at the DeCarlo Varsity Center for the second consecutive year. 

The first half of play was a case of “everything you can do, I can do better” as the Blue Streaks came out firing on all cylinders, hitting on 50% of their shots from the floor and 43% from three.  Otterbein's answer was to shoot 58% from the floor and 67% from three before the 12 minute mark.  At that time the score was knotted at 19 a piece. 

The half continued and so did the back and fourth battle as the game was tied again at 21, then at 26 by the six-minute mark.  It was about that time that the Blue Streaks went on a run that ballooned their lead to as much as nine, 37-28. 

That late run would be nullified, however, as Otterbein answered with a 10-1 run of its own to close out the half and even the game up once again with a score of 38-38.  

Sophomore David Hendrickson was a major part of JCU's offensive success early, hitting 4 of 6 from three in the first half of play and ending the half with a team-leading 15 points.  He was the only player with double-digit points at the break.

As the second half commenced, both teams felt the weight of the potential end to their seasons. 

Hendrickson came out trying to prevent that from happening, as he continued to make it rain with a three with 19:17 on the clock to start the JCU scoring.  The Blue and Gold would hit a cold streak for several minutes after that, as Otterbein rode a 10-2 run to a 50-43 lead. 

John Carroll then came alive following a bucket and free throw by senior, Kyle Hubbard.  After that It was the man with the hot hand, Hendrickson, who hit his sixth three of the game to make the score 53-49. 

The rest of the game was an absolute fight as both teams' physicality escalated with the more time that ticked away.  With just seven minutes to go it was a four-point game and a great finish was mounting with the score 62-58. 

As Otterbein looked to pull away with a little over a minute remaining, Danny Wallack hit his second three of the game to keep things within reach.  Although John Carroll rallied late and shot 48% from the floor it wasn't enough to surpass Otterbien's 60% shooting and 55% from long range. 

The spotlight was certainly not too heavy for some of the younger players on both teams, as Hendrickson had a career day dropping a team- and career-high 26 points, but his valiant effort wasn't enough to push his team to a win.  For Otterbein it was freshman Jake Bischoff who had himself a career day as well, racking up 27 points of his own and accompanying that with six rebounds. 

Hubbard, who fouled out with just 19.8 seconds remaining, finished his last game as a Blue Streak with 13 points and six rebounds on the night. 

“The positive about this is a lot of the freshman this year that logged in a lot of minutes, they can bring that intensity next year but each person individually has to get better.  Next year, we'll be a stronger team,” said Hubbard after the game. 

"There were some highs last year with all the older guys like Shontz, Hester and the Sweeney brothers, and there were some highs because John Carroll has a tradition of winning and this year really hits you because it was a less experienced team, but my time here has been good,” Hubbard added.