Austin Allemeier scores career-high 18 points to lead Men's Basketball in 80-74 loss to John Carroll
By Tim Glon
ADA — Ohio Northern junior Austin Allemeier (Elida) scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in an 80-74 loss to John Carroll on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears fall to 3-6 overall and 0-4 in Ohio Athletic Conference play with the loss, while the Blue Streaks improve to 5-3, 2-2 with the win.
Senior All-American Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) added 17 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots, senior Daniel Donner (Bellville/Northmor) scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds and freshman Daniel Unruh (Lima/Elida) added 10 points and a career-high eight rebounds for Ohio Northern.
John Carroll was led by Jackson Sartain with 18 points.
Unruh scored with 12:47 left in the game to tie the score at 47-all, but JCU responded with a 12-2 run to grab a 59-49 lead with 9:23 to go.
A 9-2 run later in the half extended the lead to 76-59 with 3:28 left to play.
JCU's full-court pressure defense forced ONU into 19 turnovers.
"We did not take care of the ball well enough and did not shoot it well from the outside," Ohio Northern head coach Rich Bensman said. "We are not that far off, but we have to do a better job against pressure. When we got into our offense we were effective."
Allemeier scored five points to key a 7-0 run to make it 76-66 with 2:31 left and a 3-pointer by freshman Ty Staten (Proctorville/Fairland) got ONU within 79-74 with five seconds left.
The Polar Bears finished the game 31-of-64 from the floor for a solid 48.4 percent, but made just 4-of-18 3-pointers for 22.2 percent.
The Blue Streaks were 26-of-70 from the field for 37.1 percent, but made 16 three-pointers in 44 attempts for 36.4 percent.
ONU outrebounded JCU 47-34.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday with a 7 pm home game against Heidelberg.
