Men's Basketball drops 76-71 contest at Marietta

By: Andrew Korba

MARIETTA -- Four players scored in double figures, but the Ohio Northern men's basketball team dropped a 76-71 decision at Marietta on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears fall to 10-9 on the season and 6-6 in the OAC, while the Pioneers improve to 15-4, 10-2.

Junior Isaiah Roux finished with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Senior Dominique Royal added 13 points and eight rebounds, while junior Jordan Martin scored 12 points and junior Lucas Pennington finished with 11.

Two free throws from Roux tied the game at 65-65 with 3:44 left to play.

ONU would get two straight stops and free throws from Pennington and Roux pushed Northern's lead to 69-65 with 2:40 remaining in the game.

Marietta would hit a three on its next possession, but Roux answered with a layup, making it 71-68 in favor of the Polar Bears with 1:43 left.

But Northern would be held scoreless the rest of the way and Marietta sunk four free throws in the final 15 seconds to pick up the win.

The Pioneers jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, but ONU chipped away and took the lead back at 15-14 on a Martin layup with 14:25 left in the first half.

A 7-2 spurt by the Polar Bears near the end of the first half put them in front 36-35.

Marietta would answer with a 3-pointer to take a 38-36 lead into the half.

Northern finished the game 28-of-66 (42.4 percent) from the field and 13-of-16 (81.2 percent) from the line, while MC was 29-of-74 (39.2 percent) in shooting and 12-of-16 (75 percent) in free throws.

The Pioneers won the rebounding battle 45-43, but ONU outscored Marietta 46-34 in the paint.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Wednesday, when it hosts Otterbein at 7:30 pm.