For seniors Brice Rausch and Chris Davis, breaking the career 1,000-point milestone is great — as long as they win.

Rausch, a 6-foot-3-inch wing from Marysville, Ohio, surpassed the mark in a pivotal game against Ohio Northern University on Jan. 25.

“The (Ohio Northern) game was an important game because we needed it to keep our tournament hopes alive,” Rausch said. “Plus, we were on a seven-game losing streak so we needed a win to pick up team morale.”

With the win secured in buzzer-beating fashion, Rausch’s 14 points were enough to break the 1,000-point barrier, but he was sure to note that the accomplishment was not his main focus.

Rausch said that the game is more important than what he does by himself. “I knew Chris and I were both close to 1,000 that night, but I didn’t really think about it,” he said. “I would trade 1,000 points for a winning season any day because that’s more important to me than any (individual) accomplishment.”

Otterbein saw more history made as head coach Dick Reynolds won his 650th career game, but it left Davis one point shy of breaking 1,000.

Davis began his collegiate career at the University of Rio Grande. The 6-foot-6-inch center from Plain City, Ohio, recently received recognition for also topping 1,000 points in his career.

The milestone bucket came in the Jan. 28 matchup against Marietta College. Despite a losing effort from the Cardinals, Davis drained his first shot of the game, a deep 3-ball from the corner, which put his 1,000 points to rest.

Despite being recognized by Reynolds, Davis doesn’t like to accept the points he tallied before becoming a Cardinal. He said he doesn’t count his first year at Rio Grande, where he had 44 points. According to him, he still needs 18 to break 1,000.

The thought of the achievement doesn’t affect the way Davis plays. While he does want to break 1,000, he is more focused on the team’s accomplishments as a whole.

Davis echoes Rausch’s sentiment that the points do not matter as much as the numbers tallied in the wins column.

“(This season) is not how the seniors wanted to end their basketball careers here at Otterbein,” Davis said. “So, with the season how it is, the (points) are not too important.”

Rausch averages just over 11 points per game for his four-year career, and Davis averages just fewer than 14 points per game for his three years here, according to NCAA.com.

Capital (13-7), Muskingum (8-12), Heidelberg (6-14) and Wilmington (10-9) are the only games remaining on the schedule. Otterbein holds a 0-1 record against each of the four teams remaining this season.

The Cards will take the first three games on the road before finally coming home and playing host to Wilmington.

The final game of the season is also the final game in Reynolds’ record-breaking career. He will be retiring when the season ends.