Men’s Basketball falls 53-50 in tight battle at Capital
By Wes Mayberry
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team fell 53-50 to Capital in a tightly contested game Friday night at the Capital Center.
The Comets improve to 11-10 overall and 7-7 in the OAC while dropping the Polar Bears to 9-12, 5-9.
Senior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) led ONU with 18 points and eight rebounds, and senior Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Justin Nixon and Nate Gerber led Capital with 10 points each.
The Polar Bears held the Comets scoreless for the first six-plus minutes of Friday's game and shot out to an 11-3 lead spurred by 3-pointers from senior Landen Long (Mason) and sophomore Ethan Bell (Marion/River Valley).
Northern extended its lead to nine, 16-7, on a triple from junior Carson Conley (Newark/Licking Valley) with 10:47 left in the opening half.
But the Comets responded with an 11-4 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Griffin Doseck and Ryan Suever to get back within two, 20-18, with 7:12 remaining.
A layup from Napier and a triple from Scott extended the ONU lead back out to seven, and the Polar Bears proceeded to take a 27-23 edge into halftime.
Napier opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer, and Northern continued to hold the lead until McKane Finkenbine put Capital up 37-36 with a 3-pointer with 12:27 left in the game.
ONU later tied the score on three occasions over the final 10 minutes but was unable to regain the lead.
The game's final tie was at 44-all on a layup from Napier with 5:58 remaining.
Capital answered with a layup from Gerber with 5:32 left and held on for the victory.
Ohio Northern made 18-of-54 field goals for 33.3% and was 6-of-18 from 3-point range for 33.3%, while Capital made 20-of-51 field goals for 39.2% and was 7-of-23 from beyond the arc for 30.4%.
ONU was 8-of-16 from the free-throw line for 50%, and CU was 6-of-10 for 60%.
Northern out-rebounded Capital by a 40-32 margin.
The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday when they host OAC foe Baldwin Wallace at 7 p.m.