Men's Basketball falls just short in thriller against #24 John Carroll 64-61

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team rallied from an 14-point deficit with just 6:45 left in the game, but ultimately fell 64-61 at home against #24 John Carroll on Saturday evening in an Ohio Athletic Conference showdown. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (9-8 overall, 3-7 OAC), #24 John Carroll (13-4 overall, 8-2 OAC).
• Venue: ONU Sports Center — Ada, Ohio.

The Game

• Sophomore Justin Chapman (Sidney) led the Polar Bears with a career-best 13 points.
• Junior Will Miller (Ottoville) added 11 points.  
• Sophomore Jadi Cunningham Jr. (Westerville/South) scored 8 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.
• Henry Raynor led the Blue Streaks with 15 points.
• Ohio Northern would take a 12-7 lead on a 8-0 run with 13:22 left in the first half. 
• ONU would rifle off a 7-0 run to grab its biggest lead of the day at 27-17 with 6:38 to go in the half.
• Northern would lead 36-28 at the half.
• The Blue Streaks would start the second half on a 17-0 run in the first 7:55 to take a 47-38 lead. 
• John Carroll would take its biggest lead at 58-44 with 6:45 left in the game, but Ohio Northern would answer with 10 straight points in the next 2:12 to get within 58-54.
• Cunningham Jr. would score 6 straight points, including a fast break dunk, to make it a 62-61 game with just 1:36 left in the game. 
• ONU had a chance to take the lead with 13 seconds left, but after a timeout, Cunningham Jr. could not get his shot to fall.
• Two made free throws would ice the game with :00.2 seconds left in the game. 
• Ohio Northern was 22-of-52 from the floor for 42.3 percent and made 10-of-27 three-pointers for 37.0 percent, while John Carroll finished 23-of-44 from the field for 52.3 percent and 5-of-14 from three-point range for 35.7 percent.
• ONU made 7-of-16 free throws for 43.8 percent and JCU was 13-of-19 from the foul line for 68.4 percent.
• The rebounds were dead even at 30-30.

Notables

• The all-time series between the two schools is tied at 40-40.
• Cunningham Jr. is ranked first in the conference in steals with 39 and assists with 98. 
• Ohio Northern is ranked 1st in the conference in turnovers forced (15.3 tpg), and points per game allowed (67.2 ppg).
• Sophomore Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Gandorf) is ranked first on the OAC in field goal percentage, boasting a 62.0 percentage. 
• Ohio Northern continues its 114th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1380-1083, a winning percentage of .560.
• Head coach Neal Young is in his third season at Ohio Northern with a 32-35 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will be at home to face off against OAC opponent Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday at 7 p.m.