WESTERVILLE -- When the movie about the 2025-26 Heidelberg University Men's Basketball team gets made, the first 20 minutes will be a Major League-esque montage of how this cast of student-athletes came together.  

A new coach. The transfers. The guys that stuck around.

There will, inevitably, be the portion of the movie where the team was left for dead.  

The late-season four-game skid. The bounce back against their old foes. 

And then, there will be the Cinderella run on the road through the OAC Tournament. At Muskingum. At No. 8 Mount Union -- the site of so many heartbreaks. And the championship at No. 20 Otterbein -- hoisting the OAC Tournament Trophy for only the second time in program history and punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.  

But maybe, just maybe, the ending hasn't been written yet.  

The No. 5 seed Student Princes upset No. 2 seed Otterbein, 82-75, on Saturday evening in Westerville.  

Heidelberg took an early lead, going on a 15-2 run with five 3-pointers in a three minute span. From there, the Tricolor nursed that lead into a 10-point advantage at halftime. 

In the second half, The Berg withstood every Otterbein charge -- never once allowing the Cardinals to have possession in a one-score game. Down the stretch, HU sank enough foul shots from the line to be in control until the final horn.  

Jarveil Gainey had a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team. Marcos Vazquez had 18 points, also earning a spot on the All-Tourney team. 

Trey Killens had 11, as did Abba Lawal.  Brady Bosma, Markell Johnson-Nichols, and Riley Gossom all had seven.  

The 2026 NCAA DIII men's basketball championship begins with a selection show on Monday, March 2 at 1 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. The 64-team field consists of 43 automatic qualifiers and 21 at-large bids.