Men's Basketball advances in OAC Tournament with 62-52 quarterfinal victory over Marietta

Kyle Meyer

By Patrick Massara

| Box Score | Tournament Site |

ADA – The Ohio Northern men’s basketball team defeated Marietta 62-52 Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 18-8 overall while the Pioneers finish their season at 12-14 overall.

Northern advances to the OAC Tournament semifinals where they will play Capital at 6 pm Friday at John Carroll.

Junior Kyle Meyer led the way for ONU as he poured in game-highs of 22 points and seven rebounds.

Ohio Northern took an early 9-3 lead when Meyer tipped the ball back up and in with 16:10 remaining.

Marietta was able to take the lead with 12:08 remaining as senior Isaiah Creasap converted a lay up for a 14-12 advantage.

Meyer gave the Polar Bears a 20-18 lead with 9:05 remaining as he hit a jump shot in the paint.

Creasap scored his eleventh point of the half on a 3-pointer to give MC the lead back at 28-26 with 3:06 remaining.

Following a fast break dunk by Pioneers senior Dan Lutes, Meyer countered with another jump shot in the paint with 1:07 remaining to cut the MC lead to 30-28 as the teams went to intermission.

After both teams traded baskets for about the first nine minutes of the half, sophomore Sam Bastian gave Ohio Northern its first lead of the second half at 43-42, when he stole the ball and made his first free throw after being fouled on the lay up attempt with 10:44 remaining.

Ohio Northern continued to score at will as it continued the 12-0 run to take a 52-42 lead with 7:29 remaining when senior Kurtis Brown drilled a trey.

Marietta brought it closer when freshman Zane Carter hit a jumper in the lane with 2:09 remaining in the second half to bring the score to 57-50.

Junior Ezra Bradshaw would hit his second free throw attempt with 1:17 remaining to push the lead to 62-50.

MC freshman Trevor Halter hit a basket with three seconds remaining to round out the scoring for the game at 62-52.

“That one run in the second half was the difference in the game,” Ohio Northern head coach Jeff Coleman said following the win. “We played really good defense during that stretch and created some turnovers. Our team was ready to play tonight and it showed.”

The Polar Bears were aided by their bench at it outscored the MC bench 21-10.

ONU also outscored the Pioneers 38-26 in the paint.

Bradshaw scored seven points for ONU while Brown, Bastian and Sean Whitney all contributed six points.

Creasap finished the game with a team-high 16 points while Halter and Kevin Knab added 11 points as well for MC.

The finals are slated for Saturday night at 7:30 pm at John Carroll.