Muskies' second-half rally falls short

The Muskingum men's basketball team rallied in the second half, but Otterbein withstood the charge to earn an 84-77 win in Westerville.

Muskingum was led by senior Logan Kimble and junior Christian Keller who each scored 21 points. Kimble also added six rebounds and six steals, while Keller had five rebounds and a pair of assists.

Junior Cody Seiler narrowly missed a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds.

The Muskies (2-7, 0-4) shot .358 (29-of-81) from the floor.

Otterbein (2-6, 1-3) was led by Bryan Mackenzie who scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds. Jake Phillips and Darrell Miller III each added 11 points.

The Cardinals ended the outing shooting .604 (29-of-48) from the field and held a 38-6 advantage in bench points.

Otterbein seized control of the game with a 32-13 run over the final 10:50 of the first half to take a 51-32 lead into the intermission.

In the second half, a furious Muskie rally in the late stages of the game cut its deficit to 78-72 with 1:23 to play, but Otterbein withstood the charge and made key free throws in the waning seconds to seal the win.

Muskingum next hosts Ohio Northern on Saturday, December 20. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.