Men's Basketball improves to 2-0 in OAC play with 92-83 victory over Wilmington

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team stayed on top of the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 92-83 victory over Wilmington on Wednesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 4-2 overall and are 2-0 in OAC play, while the Quakers fall to 3-4, 0-2.

Senior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) scored 27 points and junior Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) had his third double-double of the season with 24 points and 14 rebounds for ONU.

Senior Joey DiOrio (Columbus/Watterson) added 18 points and freshman Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) added 16 points for the Polar Bears.

Wilmington also had four players in double figures in scoring, led by Christian Jones with a game-high 30.

After a slow start, ONU went on an 18-6 run to take an 18-10 lead midway through the first half.

Northern grew the lead to 43-26 with 3:30 left before settling for a 46-36 halftime lead.

The Polar Bears extended the lead to 68-49 and appeared to be in control with 12:29 to play.

But the Quakers turned up the defensive pressure, forcing 11 ONU turnovers in the game's final 12 minutes to claw back into the game.

A free throw by Burger made it 83-68 with 4:02 to play, but the Quakers went on a 13-2 run to get within 85-81 with 1:28 to go.

But Burger would make four free throws and Bruns went 1-for-2 from the foul line as ONU iced the game.

Ohio Northern made 28-of-61 from the field for 45.9 percent and made 5-of-22 from beyond the 3-point arc for 22.7 percent. Wilmington made 25-of-64 field goals for 39.1 percent and was 8-of-23 from distance for 34.8 percent.

ONU made 31-of-41 free throws for 75.6 percent and WC made 25-of-32 free throws for 78.1 percent in the game that saw each team whistled for 26 fouls.

Northern out-rebounded Wilmington 48-34.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday when they entertain Mount Union in an OAC contest at 2 p.m. at the ONU Sports Center.