Napier's basket with 1.2 seconds left sends Men's Basketball past Otterbein 73-71 in overtime thriller

By Tim Glon

ADA — Senior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) scored with 1.2 seconds left in overtime to break a 71-all tie and lift the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 73-71 victory over Otterbein in a Wednesday night thriller at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 6-6 overall and are 2-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Cardinals fall to 9-3, 3-2.

Napier had his second double-double in the past three games with game-highs of 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Senior Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) tallied 16 points, and senior Landen Long (Mason) added 10 points for ONU.

Otterbein was led by Cam Evans with 22 points.

Napier and sophomore Ethan Bell (Marion/River Valley) each scored in the overtime period to give Northern a 71-67 lead with 2:46 left.

Evans scored at the 1:24 mark to make it 71-69, and Julian Heckman tied the game at 71-all with 23 seconds left.

Napier then backed down his defender and scored from close range with 1.2 seconds remaining to give ONU the game-winner.

Trailing 65-62 late in regulation, Napier scored with 33 seconds left to get Ohio Northern within 65-64.

After Dallas Patrick missed the first end of a free throw with 23 seconds to go, Scott drilled a 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds remaining to put the Polar Bears on top 67-65.

But Evans made two free throws with 2.1 seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime tied at 67.

The two offenses dominated the first half with the teams going into intermission tied at 41-all.

The second half was all about defense as the teams were able to score just 26 points each in the next 20 minutes.

Ohio Northern made 30-of-71 field goals for 42.3% and was 5-of-24 from 3-point range for 20.8%, while Otterbein made 26-of-67 field goals for 38.8% and was 9-of-30 from beyond the arc for 30%.

ONU was 8-of-14 from the free-throw line for 57.1%, and OU was 10-of-12 for 83.3%.

Northern out-rebounded Otterbein by a 52-35 margin.

The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday with a road game at No. 14-ranked John Carroll at 2 p.m. as part of a men's/women's doubleheader.