Men's Basketball stays atop the OAC standings with 82-59 victory over Otterbein

By Tim Glon

ADA — Senior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) led four Ohio Northern players in double figures in scoring with 26 points in an 82-59 men's basketball victory over Otterbein on Wednesday night at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears (9-3 overall, 4-1 Ohio Athletic Conference) remain in first place in the league with their fourth consecutive victory.

The Cardinals fall to 0-12, 0-5.

Junior Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) scored 20 points, senior Joey DiOrio (Columbus/Watterson) scored 18 points and freshman Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) chipped in 15 points for ONU.

Northern did not trail in the game, racing to leads of 13-2, 18-6 and 29-10 in the first 11:13 of the contest.

OU answered with a 19-5 run to pull within 34-29 with 2:50 left in the half, but ONU led 40-31 at intermission.

After Otterbein opened the second half with a 3-pointer, the Polar Bears slowly pulled away to a 49-37 lead with 15:30 to go.

A jumper by Waugh gave ONU a 63-48 lead with 9:56 left and the Cardinals would not get within 12 points the rest of the way.

"We got off to a great start, but lost our intensity," ONU head coach Rich Bensman said. "We did a better job in the second half of reestablishing ourselves. The focus for our team is to play a complete 40 minutes each game."

Ohio Northern made 30-of-61 field goals for 49.2 percent and was 9-of-21 from 3-point range for 42.9 percent, while Otterbein was 25-of-62 from the floor for 40.3 percent and was 4-of-23 from beyond the arc for 17.4 percent.

ONU out-rebounded OU 43-25 behind a game-high eight rebounds each from Burger and Bruns.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with a road game at No. 25-ranked Marietta.