Napier and Phillips star, but turnovers plague Men's Basketball in 88-69 loss at Wilmington

By Scott Beaton

WILMINGTON — Despite strong performances from freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) and junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton), the Ohio Northern men's basketball team fell 88-69 to Wilmington on Wednesday at Raizk Arena.

Napier scored 24 points and reeled in 9 rebounds and Phillips notched his first career double-double with 19 points and a career-high 12 boards for the Polar Bears (6-12 overall, 2-9 Ohio Athletic Conference).

The Polar Bears held advantages in rebounding (42-35) and points in the paint (56-44), but WC forced 19 ONU turnovers.

The Quakers (7-11 overall, 5-6 OAC) had four players in double figures, led by 20 points from Colin Myers.

Freshman Landen Long (Mason) chipped in nine points and four rebounds while senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) added eight points and six boards.

Wilmington never trailed in the contest, taking a 46-27 lead into the locker room.

Northern utilized a 10-2 run early in the second half to come within 16 at 57-41 with 14:15 to go. A lay-up by Napier sparked the run and the run was capped by a Phillips slam.

ONU continued to chip away at the WC lead as Bryan put in a lay-up to cut the gap to nine at 63-54 with 10:13 remaining.

The Quakers put together a 20-8 spurt to put the game out of reach at 83-62 with 3:33 to play.

Ohio Northern was 31-for-64 (48.4%) from the field and a lackluster 1-for-13 (7.7%) while Wilmington was 34-for-79 (43.0%) overall and 10-for-25 (40.0%) from deep.

The Polar Bears return to action with a 2 p.m. affair against No. 20-ranked Mount Union inside the ONU Sports Center.