Five See Double in Win at Otterbein

Junior guard Jim Smalley (Middleburg Heights, Ohio / Midpark) paced five players in double figures with a career-high 21 points to help lead the Heidelberg University men’s basketball team to an 88-75 victory at Otterbein College tonight in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest.
 
The win improved Heidelberg to 8-15 overall and 5-11 in the OAC, while Otterbein stands at 5-18 and 3-13.
 
Heidelberg had a solid shooting night, connecting on 55.2 percent (32-of-58) of its field goals, including a season-high 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from long range. Otterbein shot 54.7 percent (29-of-53) from the field and hit 8-of-18 three-pointers. Heidelberg also held a 32-24 advantage on the glass.
 
Smalley hit 9-of-13 shots from the field en route to his career outing. He also added four assists, two steals and two rebounds. Josh Calver (Shelby, Ohio / Shelby) finished with 15 points and six assists, while Jake Hessey (Crestline, Ohio / Colonel Crawford) had 14 points. Ryan Treese (Delaware, Ohio / Rutherford B. Hayes) came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points and Travis Kinn (Alvada, Ohio / New Riegel) added 11 points and five rebounds. Kyle Tuley (Berea, Ohio / Berea) led the way with nine rebounds.
 
Paced by five points from Hessey, Heidelberg opened up the game with seven-straight points. Its lead reached double digits, 22-12, following a Calver three with 12:26 left in the opening half. Otterbein pulled within single digits on two occasions with the latter being nine points, 37-28, with 4:40 before halftime. Heidelberg’s Treese answered with a jumper and ignited a 14-0 run to close the half and give the Berg a 51-28 advantage at the intermission.
 
Otterbein scored first out of the locker room, but Tuley responded on the opposite end, igniting a 7-1 run that gave the Berg its largest lead of the contest at 29 points, 60-31, with 16:58 on the clock.
 
The Cardinals battled back to pull within 15, but the Berg would not falter and led by two three-pointers from Hessey they moved its advantage to 22 at 86-64 with 3:33 left in the game. Otterbein would not go away and got as close as 13 points with 34 second left in the game, but the Berg held on for the win.