ONU Men's Hoops downs Muskingum 78-67 in OAC Quarterfinals

Feb. 27, 2008

By Gary Petit

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team overcame a slow start to defeat Muskingum 78-67 in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at the ONU Sports Center Wednesday night.

With the win, Northern improves to 15-11 on the season and will take on Capital Friday night in Bexley at 8:00 pm. Muskingum ends its season with a 14-12 record.

Junior Jake Cannan scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half and also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Kyle Gehle scored 16 points while Kyle Meyer chipped in with 11 and Kurtis Brown added 10.

Aided by four 3-pointers, Muskingum raced out to an early 16-2 lead. ONU responded and went on a 30-12 run over the next ten minutes to take a 32-28 lead with 3:04 to play in the half.

A 3-pointer by Muskingum's Andy Glass stopped the run and four Tyler Felt free throws in the last two minutes gave the Muskies a 36-34 lead at the break.

The Polar Bears came out of the locker room aggressive as a Gehle 3-pointer sparked a 21-9 run that saw ONU take a 55-45 lead with 10:32 to play.

Muskingum would get as close as six at 64-58 with 3:51 to go but a Sam Bastian jumper followed by a Cannan jumper pushed the ONU lead back to 10 at 68-58.

Brown would then make his last six free throws and Cannan made his last four to seal the 12-point victory for the Bears.

"We kept playen hard and never got down," said head coach Jeff Coleman. "Even know we started slow, we played with a lot of energy and keep fighting. Our guys came out in the second half and got the job done. We beat a good team tonight."

Felt led all scorers with 26 points and Glass added 11 for the Muskies.

ONU shot the ball well tonight, making 50 percent (27-of-54) of its shots from the field. The Polar Bears held Muskingum to just 37 percent (23-of-62) from the floor and 28 percent (8-of-28) from beyond the arc.

ONU will travel to Capital Friday night for the OAC semifinals. Baldwin-Wallace will take on Heidelberg in the first game at 6 pm and ONU will face Capital in the second game at 8 pm.