Men's Basketball makes late charge but can't overcome slow first half, falling to Muskingum 75-71

Kurtis Brown

By Patrick Massara

| Box Score |

NEW CONCORD - Despite five players being in double-figures, the Ohio Northern men’s basketball team lost 75-71 at Muskingum Wednesday night.

The Polar Bears move to 16-8 overall and 11-6 in the Ohio Athletic Conference while the Muskies improve to 12-12 overall and 9-8 in the OAC.

Muskingum’s Cory Bourquin capped off a 6-0 run as he hit a 3-pointer to give MC a 12-6 lead with 11:05 remaining in the first half.

Sophomore Sam Basitan brought the Polar Bears within four as he laid in a bucket with 4:06 remaining to cut the score to 22-18.

Following the lay up, MC went on a 9-0 run that was capped off by a Trevor Scott 3-pointer to build the MC lead to 31-18 with 1:54 remaining in the half.

Each team would trade a pair of free throws, as Muskingum would head into intermission with a 33-20 lead.

For the first 17 minutes of the second half, the Muskies’ lead would remain between seven and 12 points.

Pat Byrne completed an old-fashioned 3-point play with 2:34 remaining in the game as MC led 67-56.

Following that play, the Polar Bears caught fire as Ezra Bradshaw assisted Kurtis Brown for a 3-pointer on their next possession and cut the lead to 67-59 with 2:27 remaining.

Following an MC turnover, Jake Cannan was able to haul in an offensive board and put it in the basket all while getting fouled.

Cannan would convert the free throw to bring the score to 67-62 with 1:45 remaining.

After MC made 3-of-4 free throws on its next two possessions, Brown drained a trey with 59 seconds remaining to cut the MC lead to 70-65.

Bastian would hit a 3-pointer as well following a MC turnover to bring the score to 70-68 with 52 seconds remaining.

Following an MC 3-point play, Brown responded immediately for ONU by hitting another 3-pointer to cut the score to 73-71 with 13 seconds remaining.

Scott would make both free throws after being fouled to push the lead to 75-71 with 10 seconds remaining and finally out of reach for ONU.

Ohio Northern was aided from beyond the arc in the second half by going 5-of-9 compared to 0-of-7 in the first half.

Brown led ONU with 16 points while Meyer followed with 14 points.

Cannan and Bastian each had 11 points while freshman Gene Goering contributed 10 points off the bench.

Cannan also had a game-high six rebounds.

Scott had a game-high 20 points for MC with Chonko scoring the next highest with 15 points.

Tyler Felt and Bourquin also scored in double-digits with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Polar Bears will be on the road Saturday as they travel to Mount Union for a 3 pm game.