Late 14-0 run spurs Men’s Basketball to 74-71 win at John Carroll
By Wes Mayberry
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team used a late 14-0 run to secure a 74-71 victory over John Carroll at the DeCarlo Varsity Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Polar Bears improve to 9-12 overall and 3-11 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Blue Streaks fall to 7-13, 2-11.
The Polar Bears finished with four double-figure scorers in the victory.
Senior Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) finished with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Junior Michael Berner (Springboro) scored 15 points to go with seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
Junior Landen Long also scored 15 points and added three assists.
Junior C.J. Napier rounded out the quartet, posting his second consecutive double-double and seventh of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go with two blocks.
Eric Hanna and Jackson Sartain led JCU with 20 and 14 points, respectively.
With JCU up 39-38 in the second half, ONU put together a 7-0 run — courtesy of four points from Berner and a Long 3-pointer — to take a 45-39 edge with 15:50 left in the second half and held a lead until JCU tied the score at 58-all on a Blake Booker jumper with 11:03 remaining.
The Blue Streaks proceeded to take a 63-58 lead with 7:15 left, but ONU responded with its 14-0 run capped by 3-pointers from Waugh and Long.
The Polar Bears held JCU scoreless for nearly six minutes of game time before Sartain ended the drought with a jumper to cut the Blue Streak's deficit to seven, 72-65, with 1:28 remaining.
JCU eventually got back to within three, 72-69, but a Waugh jumper with 15 seconds left effectively iced the game in favor of ONU.
Sartain answered with a jumper to get JCU back within one possession, but just 1.8 seconds remained. The Blue Streaks were unable to get a shot off after deflecting the ensuing ONU inbounds pass.
The down-to-the-wire second half followed a tightly contested first half in which neither team led by more than seven points. With JCU up 31-28, PJ Flannery added a free throw and 3-pointer to hand the Blue Streaks a 35-28 edge with 3:33 left in the half.
ONU responded with six straight points, though, getting layups from Berner, Waugh and Long to close the gap to 35-34 at halftime.
Ohio Northern made 30-of-62 field goals for 48.4% and was 9-of-18 from 3-point range for 50.0%, while the Blue Streaks made 26-of-68 field goals for 38.2% and were 10-of-31 from beyond the arc for 32.3%.
The Polar Bears were 5-of-8 from the foul line for 62.5% while JCU was 9-of-13 for 69.2%.
ONU out-rebounded JCU by a 40-36 margin.
Northern returns to the court on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Ohio Athletic Conference foe Heidelberg.