In the first half, the lead shifted back and forth between the two OAC rivals. Until the final minute of play, when Otterbein’s Kyle Walton made one from behind the arc, which was quickly followed by a jumper from his teammate, Tony Borghese. The first half finished with Otterbein ahead, 35-32. The leading scorer for Otterbein in the first half was junior point guard, Tony Borghese. For the Berg, Lucas Messer had a strong first half with 11 points. At intermission, Otterbein had already given up 12 turnovers, more than Heidelberg would by the final buzzer.
The second half strongly resembled the first, with the ball changing possession many times. With only seconds left in the second half Messer made two foul shots off of a foul by Scott Hadley, bringing the teams even at 67 for the end of regulation time.
In overtime, the turning point for the Tricolor was a pair of three pointers made by sophomore guard Nolan Edwards, putting the Berg ahead by four, with less than a minute and a half left. The final blow came when the Berg made five unanswered points off of foul shots, to clinch the win at 85-78.
Top scorer for the Berg was Lucas Messer, with a total of 37 points. Of the 37, 14 came from consecutive free throws. After the overtime nail-biter, Messer moved up to third on Heidelberg College’s career scoring list, with 1,610 points. His 37 points in this game was the most by any Berg player this season. Messer also led the two teams in rebounds with 11.
Heidelberg's Nolan Edwards also managed to score than any single player for Otterbein with 15 on the night, nine of which where from deep. Other contributors for the Tricolor victory include junior guard Kenny Gilbert, with 11 points and three assists, and freshmen post Ron Higgins, who finished with 10 points on the night, and eight rebounds.
Leading the way for Otterbein was DeQuan Owens with 14 points and was seven of seven from the line.
The Heidelberg men’s team will be traveling to Columbus on Saturday to play Capital University; tip off is scheduled for 1:00.