Waugh scores career-high 29, leads Men's Basketball to 93-79 win at Muskingum in season finale

By Tim Glon

NEW CONCORD — Sophomore Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 93-79 victory at Muskingum in the season finale at Steele Center.

The Polar Bears end their season at 9-16 overall and 5-13 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Muskies end up 8-17, 3-15.

Senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) posted his second double-double in the past three games with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) scored 17 points and freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) added 16 points for ONU.

Marcus Dempsey led Muskingum with 36 points.

Northern went on a 10-0 run to break a 29-all tie and go ahead 39-29 with 6:10 left in the first half.

The lead bounced between 11 and seven the rest of the half and a three-pointer by senior Austin Allemeier (Lima/Elida) at the buzzer gave ONU a 51-42 lead at intermission.

MU battled back to go ahead 64-63 with 12:30 left, but and and-1 by Bryan at the 11:40 mark gave ONU the lead for good at 66-64.

A 12-2 run extended the Polar Bear advantage to 80-68 with 6:14 left in the game.

Bryan scored inside with 4: 45 to go made it 85-70 and ONU was not threatened the rest of the way.

Ohio Northern made 34-of-65 field goal attempts for 52.3% and was 13-of-31 from long range for 41.9%, while Muskingum was 30-of-78 for 38.5% and was 10-of-42 from three-point range for 23.8%.

The Polar Bears end their season on a 3-game winning streak and finish tied for eighth place with Otterbein at 5-13. The Cardinals win the head-to-head tiebreaker with ONU and will be the No. 8 seed in next week's OAC Tournament.