Feb. 9, 2008

By Zach Stipe

ADA — The Ohio Northern men’s basketball team used a barrage of 3-pointers and a 17-0 run in the first half to jump out to a 22-point lead and held on for a 90-81 victory over John Carroll on Saturday at the ONU Sports Center.

The win improves the Polar Bears to 13-8 overall and 9-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the loss drops the Blue Streaks to 10-10 overall and 7-7 in the OAC.

Ohio Northern made 9 of its first 10 3-point attempts and made 10-of-15 from behind the arc in the first half.

Junior Kurtis Brown, in his eighth start of the season, led the Polar Bears strong shooting, making 5-of-5 3-pointers in the first half and finishing with a career-high 21 points.

Senior Kyle Gehle also finished with 21 points, while sophomore Kyle Meyer scored 19 and grabbed 8 boards off the bench.

Sophomore Ezra Bradshaw scored a season-high 11 points.

In addition, freshman Sam Bastain had a career-high three blocks.

For the Blue Streaks, Maurice Haynes scored a career-high 27 points and Terry Walsh finished with 26.

ONU led 32-27 when Gehle hit a 3-pointer with 5:34 left in the first half to spur a 17-0 Northern run.

Junior Loudon Hammersmith made a pair of baskets, Meyer made a layup, Bradshaw drilled a 3-pointer and Gehle hit another shot from behind thet arc during the game-breaking run which was capped by a Bradshaw layup to put Northern up 49-27 with 1:21 remaining before halftime.

The Blue Streaks kept the game interesting in the second half.

With ONU leading 82-68 with 3:58 left in the game, JCU scored nine consecutive points.

Haynes was fouled making a layup, drilled the ensuing free throw and Rudy Kirbus hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bring John Carroll within five points, 82-77 with 1:21 left in the game.

The Polar Bears connected on 14-of-14 free throws in the final five minutes to secure the victory.

Northern jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the just four minutes of the game when Brown hit his third 3-pointer.

ONU shot 65.5 percent (19-of-29) in the first half, but just 37.5 percent (9-of-24) in the second half. After making 66.7 percent of 3-pointers in the first half, Northern shot 0-for-9 after halftime.

John Carroll shot 43.8 percent for the game and held a 37-30 edge on rebounds.

“We held on,” ONU head coach Jeff Coleman said. “We hit our free throws down the stretch. Give John Carroll credit, they never quit. ”

Ohio Northern returns to action this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when the Polar Bears host Muskingum at the ONU Sports Center.