Late rally falls just short as Mount Union edges Men's Basketball 71-66 in OAC contest

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team's comeback effort came up short in a 71-66 loss to Ohio Athletic Conference opponent Mount Union at the ONU Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears fall to 7-6 overall (3-3 OAC), while the Purple Raiders improve to 5-8 overall (1-5 OAC).

Sophomore Branden Rushton led the Polar Bears with team-highs of 18 points and eight rebounds.

Senior Scott Schnelle and junior Taylor Kuhlman each chipped in with a dozen points, with Schnelle also pulling down seven boards.

Mount Union was led Jimmy Wood, who scored a game-high 22 points, and Stevie Griffin and Nate Jacubec, each tallying 16 points.

The Purple Raiders jumped out to a 31-18 point lead, the biggest margin of the game, with 4:05 to play in the first half.

Freshman Lucas Pennington then scored five straight points to cut the deficit to 31-23 with 2:08 left in the half. The teams traded buckets the remainder of the period, as Mount Union took a 36-28 lead into the break.

After the Purple Raiders pushed the lead to 46-36 seven minutes into the half, Rushton scored eight points during a 14-2 ONU run to give Northern a 50-48 advantage, its first lead since the opening minutes.

Mount Union responded with a 9-2 run of its own, retaking a 57-52 lead at the 5:02 mark.

Schnelle then executed an old-fashioned three-point play and Pennington hit a three-pointer to give the Polar Bears a 58-57 lead with 4:13 to play.

After a pair of Kuhlman free throws, Mount Union went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final three minutes compared to just 3-for-6 for ONU.

Northern was also 0-for-3 from long distance in the waning minutes as Mount Union extended its lead to 71-64 before a last second layup from Rushton.

Mount Union held a slight shooting advantage, shooting 22-for-45 (48.9 percent) from the field and 8-for-17 (47.1 percent) from beyond the arc, compared to 22-for-50 (44.0 percent) and 5-for-20 (25.0 percent) for ONU.

ONU out-rebounded the Purple Raiders, 34-26.

The Polar Bears will travel to Wilmington for a 7:30 p.m. game on Wednesday before returning to Ada for a three-game homestand.