Junior Aron Thress has career day as Men's Basketball falls to No. 10 Marietta 72-71
By Caleb Scott
MARIETTA - Junior Aron Thress scored a career-high and game-high 25 points as the Ohio Northern men's basketball team fell to No. 10-ranked Marietta 72-71 Saturday afternoon at Fenton Court.
The Polar Bears fall to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Pioneers improve to 11-2, 5-1.
Thress led the way with 25 points and also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Sophomore Travis Feitshans added 11 points for Northern, while junior Joey Hurless added a game-high four assists and four steals.
After falling behind 13-7 early on, Ohio Northern stormed back with a 10-0 run capped off by a layup from sophomore Jack Ellerhorst to take a 17-13 lead with 10:42 remaining in the first half.
The two teams would exchange leads for the remainder of the half before a layup from AJ Edwards tied the game at 31-31 at the intermission.
Marietta would open the second half with a 10-3 run to take a 41-34 lead with 16:56 remaining in the second half.
Northern would respond with a 6-1 run to pull within 42-39 with 14:14 remaining in the contest.
After falling behind 70-60, ONU went on a quick 7-0 run fueled by five points from Hurless to pull within 70-67 with 3:18 remaining in the contest.
After exchanging possesions, Marietta would sink two late free throws with 2:18 left in the contest to push the score to 72-67.
A jumper from junior Devon Allen with 1:01 remaining in the game would bring Northern within 72-71 but was not enough as Marietta went on the win the contest.
Northern shot 29-of-65 (44.6 percent) from the field, including 6-of-24 (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc, while Marietta shot 25-of-70 (35.7 percent) from the field, including 8-of-30 (26.7 percent) from the three point line.
Marietta edged Northern in rebounding by a 47-42 margin.
The Polar Bears will return to action Wednesday as they travel to Wilmington to take on the Quakers at 7:30 pm.