Men's Basketball tops Lynchburg (Va.) 84-64 in Music City Classic opener

By Tim Glon

GALLATIN, Tenn. — Junior Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) scored 28 points and senior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) added 20 points to lead Ohio Northern to an 84-64 men's basketball victory at the Music City Classic on Friday afternoon at Volunteer State (Tenn.) Community College's Pickel Field House.

The Polar Bears (7-3 overall) also got 17 points and a career-high nine rebounds from freshman Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) and a career-high 10 points from sophomore Austin Allemeier (Elida).

The Hornets (5-5) were led by Chance Greene with 19 points.

Northern led throughout the game, racing to leads of 8-2, 19-9, 24-11 and 38-18 in the first 15:57 of the game.

Lynchburg nailed back-to-back threes to close within 44-32 at halftime.

The lead was 54-44 when Bruns nailed a 3-pointer and a jumper and Waugh got a layup to extend the lead to 61-44 with 13:37 to play and the Polar Bears were not threatened the rest of the way.

Ohio Northern made 30-of-54 field goals for 55.6 percent and was 9-of-24 from 3-point range for 37.5 percent, while Lynchburg was 24-of-62 from the floor for 38.7 percent and made 8-of-26 from 3-point range for 30.8 percent.

Northern won the rebounding battle by a 36-34 margin.

The Polar Bears will close out their Music City Classic schedule on Saturday when they face Keene State (N.H.) at 2 pm (1 pm CST).