Early Long Range Explosion Leads to Senior Day Win

The Heidelberg College men’s basketball team opened its Ohio Athletic Conference game against visiting Otterbein College with five three-pointers to take an early 19-8 lead and never looked back, cruising to an eventual 81-66 league victory.

The win allowed five seniors to finish their careers with a regular season victory in its home finale. Prior to the contest seniors Brian Schmidt (Hinckley, Ohio / Brunswick), Andrew Lemmon (Port Clinton, Ohio / Port Clinton), Greg Tyson Jr. (Lima, Ohio / Lima Senior), Shawn Shriver (Bellevue, Ohio / Western Reserve), Tyson Depinet (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel) and student assistant Rob Hawn were recognized for their contributions to propelling the Berg into the top half of the OAC within the last four years.

Heidelberg currently stands at 18-5 overall and 12-4 in the OAC. The 18 overall victories ties for the third most in a season at the Berg, while its 12 league wins ties for second all-time in the history of the program. Heidelberg also racked up 18 wins during its 1981-82 and 1989-90 campaigns. The setback drops Otterbein to 6-17 overall and 5-11 in league action.

The Berg extended its first half lead to 16 points following a Schmidt lay up with 7:59 on the clock and continued to battle, successfully converting an inbounds play from under the basket as time expired in the half to take a 43-26 lead into the locker room. Jim Smalley (Middleburg Heights, Ohio / Midpark) found Chad Szalay (Lorain, Ohio / Clearview) under the basket as the horn sounded.

In the first half, Heidelberg shot .515 percent (17-of-33) from the field, compared to just .290 percent (9-of-31) by Otterbein.

Heidelberg continued to control the game in the second half, allowing Otterbein to pull within just 11 points, 45-34, following a Ross Banaszak three two minutes into the half. The Berg responded with a Lemmon lay up and never looked back. A break away dunk by Tyson with 2:52 left in the game gave Heidelberg its largest lead of the contest at 22 points, 79-57. Otterbein closed the game with a 9-2 run to cut its final deficit to 15 points at 81-66.

Lemmon and Schmidt each posted a double-double in the victory. Lemmon finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Schmidt tallied 14 points and 10 boards. Also scoring in double figures was Szalay with 14 and Shriver with 10. Smalley came off the bench to dish out a career-high seven assists in the winning effort.

Otterbein was led by Adam Wells with 14 points and Cory Ratai with a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Heidelberg concludes its regular season slate with two-straight on the road beginning at Capital University on Wednesday. Tip-off with the Crusaders is set for 7:00 p.m.