Ohio Northern scores final eight points to rally past Wittenberg 59-57

Nov. 28, 2007

By Tim Glon

SPRINGFIELD — Ohio Northern scored the game's final eight points to rally for a 59-57 non-conference men's basketball victory at Wittenberg Wednesday evening at the Pam Evans Smith Arena.

The Polar Bears improve to 3-2, while the Tigers fall to 1-3.

Jake Cannan led the Polar Bears with his first career double-double, scoring a season-high 20 points and tying his career high with 10 rebounds.

His three-point play with 37 seconds left capped an 8-0 run and gave Ohio Northern its only lead of the second half at 59-57.

Kyle Gehle added 10 points and Kyle Meyer had eight points and a career-high nine rebounds for ONU.

WU was led by Gregg Hill with 18 points.

A pair of free throws by Derrick Hannon gave the Tigers a 57-51 lead with 4:15 to play.

But the hosts would not score again as the ONU defense held WU to 0-for-8 shooting down the stretch.

Three free throws by Cannan (one at 3:39 and two more at 2:51) and a basket by Mitch Anderson pulled the Polar Bears within 57-56 with 2:24 to go.

Cannan scored inside and made the free throw with 37 seconds left to give ONU its first lead of the second half at 59-57.

Wittenberg got two chances to win the game at the end, but missed a pair of three-pointers. The final one was a 25-foot effort by Hill at the buzzer as Ohio Northern held on for the win.

"Boy, our guys hung in there," ONU head coach Jeff Coleman said. "We were struggling with shooting and turning the ball over, but I'm happy with the way we came back and played down the stretch. We got a little lucky that they missed a few shots at the end. Jake was much more aggressive and it paid dividends. We played hard for 40 minutes and got a nice win."

Wittenberg opened the second half on a 14-2 run to take a 46-34 lead with 11:57 left in the game. The Tiger defense limited ONU to 1-of-8 shooting and forced eight Polar Bear turnovers during that span.

But Meyer, Cannan and Gehle each scored baskets as ONU pulled within 46-40 with ten minutes left to play.

A three-pointer by Ezra Bradshaw at the 7:02 mark capped a 7-0 run to pull the Polar Bears within 51-48.

The first half was close all the way with the two teams even at 32 after the first 20 minutes. There were nine ties, six lead changes and neither team enjoyed a lead of greater than four points.

Northern finished 20-of-53 from the floor for 37.7 percent. ONU made 7-of-22 three-pointers for 31.8 percent and was 12-of-15 from the foul line for 80 percent.

The Tigers made 20-of-58 field goals for 34.5 percent, made jus 1-of-12 three-pointers for 8.3 percent and were 16-of-24 from the charity stripe for 66.7 percent.

ONU out-rebounded WU 39-38.

The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday afternoon at 3 pm at the ONU Sports Center against Marietta in the home and Ohio Athletic Conference opener.