Dec. 15, 2007

By Gary Petit

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Ohio Northern senior Kyle Gehle made 12-of-15 free throws in the two overtime periods to finish with a career-high 37 points to lead ONU to a 102-97 victory over John Carroll Saturday afternoon.

In a game that featured a combined 75 personal fouls, 117 free throw attempts and nine foul outs, Gehle made an ONU single-game record 23 free throws on 27 attempts.

Gehle led four Polar Bears (7-3, 4-1 OAC) in double figures. Junior Kurtis Brown was 4-for-8 from three-point land and finished with a career-high 17 points. Freshman Kyle Meyer added 14 points while fellow freshman Sean Whitney chipped in with 11.

John Carroll (3-4, 1-2 OAC) led 80-77 with 49 seconds remaining in regulation after two John Curran free-throws. Northern came down the floor, where Gehle missed a three-pointer but it was rebounded by Meyer. The ball eventually found its way to Brown who knocked down a three with 09 seconds left to tie the game at 80-80 and send it into overtime.

In the first overtime, Curran split a pair of free throws to give JCU an 88-85 lead with 1:12 left. Gehle followed with two free throws and then the Blue Streaks Desmond Motley responded with a lay up to push the lead back to 90-87 with just 37 seconds remaining.

Gehle then took the ball to the hole and finished the lay up with 22 seconds left as he was fouled by Alex Koltsov. The ensuing free throw knotted the game at 90-90. John Carroll couldn’t muster-up a shot in the last 20 seconds and the game would head into a second overtime.

A lay up by Meyer, followed by a three-pointer from Gehle, put ONU up 95-90 just one minute into the second extra period. JCU cut the lead to two at 99-97 after a lay up from Curran, but a free three from Brown and two more by Gehle gave ONU the five-point victory.

Ruby Kurbis led five Blue Streaks in double figures with 18 points on 10-of-12 from the free throw line.

Northern led 6-4 early in the first half when a lay up by OAC-leading scorer Terry Walsh sparked a 22-7 run to give JCU a 26-13 lead at the 10:23 mark of the first half. The Blue Streaks took a 44-38 lead into the locker room.

JCU took its biggest lead of the second half at 49-40 before two free throws by Meyer and four straight free throws by Gehle, after a John Carroll technical foul, cut the lead the 49-46. ONU continued the run and took its biggest lead of the game at 62-59 with 11 minutes left in regulation.

The Polar Bears made twice as many free throws (48-of-67) as they did field goals (24-of-50) and was 6-for-19 from long range. John Carroll was 29-of-45 from the free throw line and held a 44-35 advantage on the boards.

The Blue Streaks had seven players foul out as just Jake Cannan and Loudan Hammersmith reached the foul limit for ONU.

The Polar Bears will return to action after Christmas at the Trinity (Tex.) Invitational on Dec. 29-30. ONU will take on Southwestern (Tex.) on Dec. 29 and Trinity on Dec. 30.