With the temperatures dropping and snow falling outside Hermann Court, the green clad Wilmington College men's basketball team heated up the court inside en route to posting 85-67 victory over Otterbein Wednesday in Ohio Athletic Conference action.

The Fightin' Quakers made 12 of their first 14 shots off the game, six of the shots were assisted on, as they raced out to a 23-point lead just nine minutes into the contest. Six different players scored during the game-opening run.

"I thought we played real efficiently early on," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. "It's as good as we shared the ball in a while. The ball was moving, and of course we made open looks, which helped. Most importantly, we really defended and rebounded in that first 10-15 minutes. We had a lot of juice tonight. The guys were really ready to go. We didn't sustain it very well, but that first half was as good as we played this year."

Once Wilmington obtained its double-figure advantage, the Fightin' Quakers didn't relinquish it. Otterbein made a late second half charge to get to within 10, but WC scored nine of the last 10 points to seal the victory.

Wilmington was very unselfish in the second half, assisting on nine of its 11 baskets, in really keeping the Cardinals from posing a threat.

"A challenge of any group is to come out with the same energy when you are leading by 22 at half," said Hunt. "The challenge for this group is can they sustain the edge and can they sustain competitive toughness. If they can do that, we have a chance to be pretty good."

Senior Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) finished with his second consecutive double-double, fifth overall this season, with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Four other players scored at least 10 points, led by junior R.J. Leppert (Liberty Township, OH/Lakota East), who tallied 18 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Senior Klarke Ransome (Richwood, OH/North Union) added 13 points, while senior Ben Vonderhaar (Cincinnati, OH/Colerain) added 12 points off the bench. Junior Dwight Johnson (Dayton, OH/Jefferson) rounded out the double-figure quintet with 11 points, a team-high five assists and zero turnovers.

Wilmington improved to 9-4 overall, 6-1 in the OAC, while Otterbein fell to 2-12 overall, 1-6 in the OAC. The Fightin' Quakers travel to first-place Mount Union (11-2 overall, 6-0 OAC) 3 p.m. Saturday.