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Salem

About the 2002 Division III
men's basketball tournament

Otterbein 70, Carthage 66
SALEM — Jeff Gibbs had 30 points and 15 rebounds to lead Otterbein to a 70-66 victory over Carthage in the Division III semifinals.

Otterbein (29-3) advances to play Elizabethtown in tomorrow’s 5 p.m. championship game. Carthage (27-2) will play Rochester in the 2:30 p.m. consolation game.

Kevin Shay added 17 points and six rebounds for Otterbein, who stretched its winning streak to 12 games while snapping Carthage’s 16-game streak.

Antoine McDaniel led four Carthage players in double-digits with 19 points. Rob Garnes added 16 points and a team-best 14 rebounds, Bart Fabian netted 12, while Jason Wiertel had 10.

Up 40-36 at the half, Carthage scored the opening four points of the second half for an eight-point lead. The back-and-forth second half saw seven ties and another seven lead changes and neither team led by more than four points in the game’s final 17 minutes.

"We got into an 'exchanging baskets' situation," said Otterbein head coach Dick Reynolds. "We thought that we could force their offense into a lull with our zone defense down the stretch. We knew that our defense could get a stop at the end of the game."

A Gibbs jumper with 2:16 remaining tied the game at 66. Carthage failed to break the tie in its next possession giving the ball back to Otterbein. Mo Ross took a feed from Shay and knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:31 remaining in the game for what proved to be the game-winner. McDaniel missed a pair of potential game-tying 3s in the final minute, and Gibbs split a pair of free throws for the final 70-66 margin.

"It was kind of a broken play," said Shay. "I drove into the lane and when I got in there I was surprised to see Mo so wide open. I was looking inside to Jeff (Gibbs) but he was covered."

"I hadn't been shooting well all game long," said Ross," so I knew that I would be open at the end. I don't know what happened then — I just shot it."

Otterbein held Carthage scoreless for the final three minutes, 18 seconds.

"I could say for the past three years we've been working so hard to get down here," said Carthage All-America selection Wiertel. "There's so much luck involved. It's a privilege to be here but it hurts so badly."

Trailing 4-3 in the opening few minutes, Carthage used a 19-4 run over a 5:19 span to take a 22-8 lead. Otterbein answered with an 18-4 run over the next 7:51 to tie the game a 26-26 in the final minutes of the half.

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