ADA, Ohio – Up two points at halftime, Ohio Northern University (ONU) outscored the Wilmington College men’s basketball team 39-24 in the second half en route to a 79-62 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory on Thursday evening.
The opening minutes saw neither team separate from one another, but consecutive triples from Adam Scott and C.J. Napier put ONU up 19-11 midway through the first half. The Quakers battled back to within a possession (33-30) with an Abdul Kanu triple at the 2:49 mark, and after a Polar Bear timeout, Gavin Heimlich blocked a shot and scored a layup on the other end. The hosts wouldn’t surrender the lead, however, but led by just a basket (40-38) at halftime as Bryce Bird found Collin Barker for a layup to beat the buzzer.
Unfortunately for WC, the second half did not play out like the first. The Quakers shot 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) and made just one triple on 11 tries while ONU made 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) of its field goal attempts in the second half. A 14-2 run early in the second half with the score 44-40 opened up a deficit that the visitors couldn’t climb out of.
Both teams shot between 40-50 percent for the game with the largest difference being at the free throw line. The Polar Bears got there 26 times and 19 of them while the Quakers were 10-of-14. The hosts held a 37-31 rebounding advantage and committed just eight turnovers.
The Ohio Northern duo of Napier and Scott combined for 43 points on 16-of-30 shooting to go along with 17 rebounds. Landen Long added 10 points off the bench. Kanu’s 21 led the way for Wilmington with the senior also grabbing eight rebounds. Bird and Lucas Doty both scored seven points.
Wilmington continues OAC play with a 2 p.m. game at Heidelberg University on Saturday.
