Men's Basketball stays in race for OAC Tournament bid with 69-64 victory at Otterbein

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team stayed alive for a spot in next week's 6-team Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 69-64 victory at Otterbein on Wednesday night.

The Basics:

• Records: Ohio Northern (13-11 overall, 7-10 OAC), Otterbein (13-11 overall, 8-9 OAC).
• Venue: Rike Center — Westerville, Ohio.

The Game

• Sophomore Carter Reese (Westerville/South) led the Polar Bears in scoring with 19 points.
• Sophomore Jadi Cunningham Jr. (Westerville/North) and sophomore Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) scored 14 points each
• The Cardinals were led by Chase Garito with 19 points.
• The Polar Bears went on a 14-2 run over a 4:01 span early in the second half, capped by a steal and layup by junior Will Miller (Ottoville), to grab a 47-32 lead with 12:03 left in the game.
• Another Miller basket extended ONU's lead to 51-35 with 9:35 to go.
• OU answered with a 13-3 run to trim the lead to 54-48 with 6:01 left.
• Reese scored six consecutive points to make it 60-48 with 5:18 remaining.
• An 18-6 run by the hosts trimmed the lead to 66-64 with 14 seconds to go.
• But Cunningham, Jr. would make three gree throws down the stretch to ice the game for ONU.
• Ohio Northern was 23-of-52 from the floor for 44.2 percent and made 5-of-18 three-pointers for 27.8 percent, while Otterbein finished 24-of-53 from the field for 45.3 percent and 7-of-18 from three-point range for 38.9 percent.
• ONU made 18-of-25 free throws for 72.0 percent and OU was 9-of-14 from the foul line for 64.3 percent.
• The Cardinals out-rebounded the Polar Bears 35-28.

Notables

• With the victory, Ohio Northern remains in a tie with Capital for sixth place in the 10-team OAC.
• The Polar Bears need a win at Mount Union on Saturday and an Otterbein win over Capital to guarantee a spot in next week's 6-team OAC Tournament.
• Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 77-62 margin.
• Miller is ranked 16th in ONU history with 126 steals.
• Miller is also ranked 4th in the OAC in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.3 percent. 
• Cunningham Jr. leads the OAC in steals with 52 and is 2nd in assists with 128. 
• Cunningham Jr. is ranked 18th in ONU's history with 260 assists.
• Ohio Northern entered the contest ranked 1st in the conference in assists per game (16.5) turnovers forced (15.0 tpg), and points per game allowed (68.1 ppg).
• Maag is ranked 3rd in the OAC in field goal percentage, at 59.2 percent.
• Ohio Northern continues its 114th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1384-1086, a winning percentage of .560.
• Head coach Neal Young is in his third season at Ohio Northern with a 36-38 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday at 3 pm at Mount Union in their regular season finale.