Napier scores 21 points to lead Men’s Basketball to 62-50 win at Muskingum in season finale

By Wes Mayberry 

NEW CONCORD — Senior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 62-50 win at Muskingum on Saturday afternoon at the Steele Center.

The Polar Bears close their 2022-23 season at 10-15 overall and 6-12 in the OAC while dropping the Muskies to 1-24, 1-17.

Napier added nine rebounds to his stat line, falling just shy of a double-double. He closes the season with 1,279 points and 584 rebounds in his ONU career, which rank 19th and 18th, respectively, in program history.

Freshman Will Miller (Ottoville) and senior Landen Long (Mason) scored 10 points each to go with six points and seven rebounds from senior Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) for ONU.

Duane Davis led Muskingum with 17 points.

The Muskies scored the first five points of Saturday's game and later built a 10-5 lead before ONU tied the score courtesy of a 3-pointer from Napier and a dunk from senior Michael Berner (Springboro).

Northern took its first lead on a pair of Scott free throws with 6:20 remaining that was part of a 21-4 Polar Bear run over the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 33-21 edge into intermission after trailing 17-12.

That spurt was highlighted by 3-pointers from Napier, Scott and sophomore Ethan Bell (Marion/River Valley).

Northern extended its lead to 14, 35-21, on a layup from Berner to open the second half and led the rest of the way.

The Muskies cut the deficit to five, 41-36, on three free throws from Kaelen Pulliam with 9:47 remaining but were unable to get any closer after ONU responded with a layup from Napier and a 3-pointer from Long to extend the lead back to 10.

Miller made a pair of 3-pointers to go with one from junior Carson Conley (Newark/Licking Valley) over the final seven minutes to help seal the victory.

Ohio Northern made 18-of-45 field goals for 40% and was 9-of-18 from 3-point range for 50%, while Muskingum made 17-of-52 field goals for 32.7% and was 3-of-24 from beyond the arc for 12.5%.

ONU was 17-of-21 from the free-throw line for 81%, and MU was 13-of-24 for 54.2%.

Northern out-rebounded Muskingum by a slim 34-33 margin.