Four Men's Basketball players reach double figures in 71-61 victory over Otterbein

Tony Meyer

By Patrick Massara

| Box Score |

ADA - The Ohio Northern men’s basketball program earned its 1,200^th all-time victory Saturday afternoon with a 71-61 defeat over Ohio Athletic Conference foe Otterbein at home at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears better their record to 9-8 overall and 7-3 in the OAC, while the Cardinals move to 4-13 overall and 2-8 in the conference.

Ohio Northern played with tenacious defense in the first half, as they forced Otterbein into 17 turnovers on 11 Polar Bear steals.

“We had to get back to Polar Bear pride,” ONU head coach John Rhodes said. “We had to get back to the way we are supposed to play. Our offense is initiated by us getting after it on defense, not by taking jump shots.”

Four players scored in double-digits for the Polar Bears, led by senior guard Ezra Bradshaw who scored a game-high 18 points.

Freshman guard Tony Meyer contributed 14 points and matched career-highs with four three-point field goals made and six assists.

Despite Otterbein cutting the lead down to five points with 10:33 remaining in the game, Ohio Northern was able to get back and hold a double-digit lead for the final 6:04.

ONU raced out of the gate to an 8-0 lead as Kyle Meyer stole the ball and finished with a fast break lay up at the 17:49 mark.

Meyer had 14 points and a game-high six rebounds.

After a small OC run, freshman Taylor Kuhlman drained a 3-point shot off a Matt Phillips assist at the 8:34 mark to put ONU ahead 20-10.

Kuhlman had eight points and a career-high five assists in the win.

The Polar Bears largest lead of the half came with 47 seconds remaining when freshman Kyle Baker stole an errant pass and took it the length of the court for a lay up and a 29-16 advantage.

ONU led 29-18 at intermission.

With 15:24 left in the second half, junior guard Nathan Edick continued a Cardinals’ run as he hit a trey to cut into the ONU lead and bring the score to 38-34.

At 7:48, Bradshaw drove to the middle of the lane and laid the ball in as well as converted the free throw for a 51-42 lead.

Bradshaw then assisted Tony Meyer, setting him up for a three-pointer to build Ohio Northern’s lead to 60-47 at the 4:31 mark.

Bradshaw hit a pair of free throws with 1:42 remaining for a 67-53 lead for the Polar Bear’s largest lead of the game.

ONU won the turnover battle by a 24-15 margin.

Ohio Northern is back in action on Wednesday as they travel to Capital for a 7 pm game.