Men's Basketball downed at John Carroll 90-71

By Scott Beaton

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team fell to John Carroll by a 90-71 scoreline in Ohio Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon inside the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

Senior All-American Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) led the Polar Bears (5-18 overall, 1-15 OAC), scoring 25 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and registering four blocked shots.

Additionally, junior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburg, Pa./Montour) tied a career-high with 12 points and hauled in nine rebounds for ONU.

Junior Austin Allemeier (Elida) contributed a career-high seven assists in the contest, all coming in the second half, to go along with four points and five rebounds. 

The Blue Streaks (10-13 overall, 6-10 OAC) had four double-figure scorers, led by Ryan Berger's 22 points.

Two Bruns layups gave ONU an early 4-0 advantage, but John Carroll drilled five consecutive three-point attempts to gain control. For the half, the Blue Streaks connected on 11-of-16 three-pointers to build a 44-25 halftime lead.

Following a layup and free throw by the Blue Streaks to open the second half, the Polar Bears recorded an 11-2 run over a 2:45 span to help narrow the deficit.

Senior Daniel Donner (Bellville/Northmor) sparked the run with a layup and sophomore Colton Bachman (Piqua) made back-to-back three pointers off assists from Allemeier and Bryan to bring ONU to within 50-37 with 15:13 remaining.

However, Northern could not complete the comeback as the Blue Streaks grew their lead to 85-62 at the 3:14 mark.

Sophomore Thomas Phillips (Kenton) supplied seven points for the Polar Bears in just three minutes off the bench to close the game.

ONU finished the game 27-for-72 (37.5%) from the field and 5-for-25 (20.0%) from three-point range. JCU was 32-for-68 (47.1%) from the floor and 14-for-26 (53.8%) on three-point attempts.

Ohio Northern will return to the court Wednesday evening at Heidelberg for a 7 p.m. contest.