Men's Basketball falls just short in tight battle at Marietta 71-68 on Sunday

MARIETTA — Ohio Northern men's basketball team came up just short in a 71-68 loss at Marietta on Sunday afternoon in Ohio Athletic Confrence showdown. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (9-4 overall, 3-2 OAC), Marietta (8-5 overall, 2-4 OAC).
• Venue: Ban Johnson Arena- Marietta, Ohio.

The Game

• Junior Will Miller (Ottovile) led the Polar Bears with 15 points.
• Sophomore Carter Reese (Westerville/North) added 14 points and brought in 6 rebounds.
• Sophomore Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) added 12 points and had 5 steals.  
• Sophomore Jadi Cunningham Jr. (Westerville/South) added 11 points and dished out 6 assists.
• Jayden Brandshaw led the Pioneers with 18 points.
• Ohio Northern would start the game hot with the first 7 points in the first 2:43 minutes of the game.
• Marietta would answer right back with an 11-3 run with 14:11 left in the period. 
• ONU would create separation again with a 7-1 run with 3:27 left giving them a 33-25 lead.
• MC would then rattle off 8 straight points to tie the game back up, but a layup to beat the buzzer by Maag would give ONU the leading going into the half. 
• The Pioneers would take a strong lead at 50-42 after a 10-0 run with 3:42 gone in the second half.
• The Polar Bears would respond with a 7-0 run of their own cutting the lead to one with 9:31 left in the game.
• Northern would be down 70-65 when Miller would hit a clutch three to make it a one possession game with just 56 seconds reaming.
• The Polar Bears would get a defensive stop giving them a chance to tie the game, however Miller would be unable to convert the three point attempt to take the lead.
• Marietta would go 1-of-2 from the free throw line giving Ohio Northern one last shot at a half court heave from Reese, but it would not go in.
• Ohio Northern was 26-of-55 from the floor for 47.3 percent and made 9-of-27 three-pointers for 33.3 percent, while Marietta finished 27-of-66 from the field for 40.9 percent and 6-of-20 from three-point range for 30.0 percent.
• ONU made 7-of-9 free throws for 77.8 percent and MC was 11-of-14 from the foul line for 78.6 percent.
• The Pioneers out rebounded the Polar Bears 39-30.

Notables

• Ohio Northern now leads the all time series 60-48 with Marietta.
• Cunningham Jr. is ranked first in the conference in steals with 30 and assists with 87. 
• Ohio Northern is ranked 1st in the conference in steals per game, field goal percentage, turnovers forced, and points per game allowed with 10.2 steals, 48.8%, 15.6 turnovers per game, and 66.9 points allowed.
• Maag is ranked first on the OAC in field goal percentage boasting a 65.7 percentage. 
• Ohio Northern continues its 114th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1380-1080, a winning percentage of .561.
• Head coach Neal Young is in his third season at Ohio Northern with a 32-31 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will be at home against on OAC opponent Otterbein on Wednesday at 7 p.m.