Thress scores 21, but Baldwin Wallace rallies late for 80-77 decision over Men's Basketball
By Tim Glon
ADA — Junior Aron Thress led three Ohio Northern players in double figures with a game-high 21 points, but Baldwin Wallace rallied late for an 80-77 victory over ONU on Saturday at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears (5-10 overall, 2-6 Ohio Athletic Conference) led by as many as 16 points in each half and were up 64-48 with 9::45 left to play.
But the Yellow Jackets (10-5 overall, 5-3 OAC) would score on their final seven possessions to complete the comeback.
Junior Joey Hurless added 11 points and a game-high nine assists and freshman Ryan Bruns chipped in 10 points and a career-high seven blocked shots in his first career start for Ohio Northern.
BW was led by Jake Fetherolf with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Jay Battle and Cam Kuhn with 13 points each.
Northern raced out to a quick 20-4 lead, holding the Yellow Jackets without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the game.
BW rallied to within 25-21 and Ohio Northern led 43-36 at halftime.
An 11-0 run, capped by a dunk from Bruns, gave ONU a 64-48 lead with 9:45 to play.
But BW chipped away at the Polar Bear lead and Battle scored inside to trim ONU's lead to 75-74 with 2:08 left.
A driving layup by Hurless gave ONU a 77-74 lead with 1:30 to play.
Fetherolf scored with 1;17 left and Mike Kaminski gave BW its first lead of the game at 78-77 with 24 seconds to play.
After a Polar Bear turnover, Kuhn made two free throws with seven seconds left to make it 80-77.
A long 3-pointer by sophomore Travis Feitshans missed and BW held on for the win.
The Polar Bears 30-of-59 field goals for 50.8 percent and were 6-of-14 from 3-point range for 42.9 percent.
The Yellow Jackets made 28-of-68 field goals for 41.2 percent and were 12-of-31 from beyond the arc for 38.7 percent.
ONU out-rebounded BW 39-36, but committed 16 turnovers to just 12 for the visitors.
The Polar Bears will return to action Wednesday with a 7:30 pm contest at Heidelberg.