Meyer records 20 points and eight boards as Men's Basketball defeats Wilmington 72-67

Kyle Meyer

By Patrick Massara

| Box Score |

WILMINGTON – The Ohio Northern men’s basketball team defeated Wilmington 72-67 on the road Wednesday night at Fred Raizk Arena.

Junior Kyle Meyer had game-highs with 20 points and eight rebounds with sophomore Sam Bastian having 18 points as well.

The Polar Bears improve to 16-6 overall and 11-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference while the Quakers fall to 14-8 overall and 10-5 in the OAC.

Meyer took an assist from Kurtis Brown and gave ONU a 19-12 lead with 10:51 remaining in the first half as he hit a jump shot.

After the Quakers had cut the lead to 19-18 with 7:38 remaining in the half, the Polar Bears went on a 13-2 run to increase the lead to 32-20 with 2:05 remaining as Meyer sunk a pair of free throws.

Kevin Colson hit a 3-point shot as time expired to narrow Ohio Northern’s lead to 43-29 heading into intermission.

R.J. Brown tied the game up for WC at 38-38 with 17:12 remaining as he hit a lay up.

A 3-pointer by Ezra Bradshaw the next trip down the court gave ONU the lead right back at 41-38 with 16:50 remaining.

ONU would hold onto the lead until Colson converted a pair of free throws to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:19 remaining in the game.

Bastian was fouled the next trip down the court and hit the latter of two free throws for a 65-64 lead with 1:03 remaining.

ONU held on for the win as it made its free throws in crunch time as Meyer went 2-of-2 and Bradshaw went 5-of-6.

Ohio Northern was very efficient on offense by shooting 26-of-43 for a 60.5 percentage while Wilmington shot 25-of-54 for 46.3 percent.

ONU held its own again inside as it out rebounded WC 27-24 as well as out scored WC in the paint 38-32.

Bradshaw finished the game with 14 points and five rebounds.

WC was led by Brandon Rogers who had team-highs with 16 points and five rebounds and Tyler Ledford who had a game-high seven assists.

Colson and Justin Gaines also scored in double-figures for WC with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The Polar Bears return to action Saturday for their final regular season home game as they host Capital at 3 pm.