Schnelle records career game in Men's Basketball's 73-70 win at Baldwin-Wallace; ONU is No. 4 seed in OAC Tournament
BEREA — Junior Scott Schnelle was one block shy of a triple-double following the Ohio Northern's men's basketball team's thrilling 73-70 win over Baldwin Wallace, Saturday afternoon in Ursprung Gymnasium.
Schnelle recorded a game and career-high 36 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and nine blocks to pace the Polar Bears. With his block party today, he now has 78 blocked shots for his career and sits fifth the program's all-time history in that category.
"I've seen players earn triple-doubles during my playing and coaching career, but to almost do it with blocked shots is quite an accomplishment," head coach John Rhodes said. "(Schnelle) is such a humble player and having that kind of game couldn't happen to a better person."
Also scoring for the Polar Bears were freshmen Branden Rushton and Taylor Kuhlman with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Polar Bears close out the regular season with a 13-12 overall record and a 10-8 mark in the OAC. The Yellow Jackets close out the season with a 9-16 record and a 5-12 mark in the conference.
ONU are seeded No. 4 heading into next week's OAC Men's Basketball Tournament and will host No. 5 seeded Heidelberg (11-14, 9-9 OAC), Tuesday night.
Northern had the lead for the majority of the first half, creating a 10-point gap midway through the half on a Rushton layup and again on a Jared Horstman layup.
Baldwin-Wallace would fight back to tie the game at the 1:41 mark with a layup by Sean Rothermel, but back-to-back points by sophomore Tony Meyer and Rushton would give ONU the 33-29 lead at the break.
Into the second half, the Yellow Jackets would continue to chip away at ONU's lead to eventually take the 39-37 lead on two Promis Cabbil foul shots.
Much like the first half, the Polar Bears would regain and hold tight to the lead for much of the half, with the Yellow Jackets nipping at their heels.
B-W would tie the game at 62 at 3:41 on a 3-point shot by Grant Fairhurst, then take the lead on the back end of a Cabbil double-bonus opportunity.
In the final 30 seconds of the contest, a Ben Umbel tip-in would move the Yellow Jackets to within one (69-68).
A last second long shot by B-W's Fairhurst didn't connect and ONU's Rushton would sink two different double-bonus chance to seal the 73-70 Polar Bear win.
Baldwin-Wallace had three different players with double-digit scoring, including Kyle Payne with a team-high 19 points, Cabbil with 15 and Kevin Krakowiak with 12 points.
Today's B-W/ONU doubleheader will be televised in tape delay by SportsTime Ohio. The game will air at 8 p.m. and again Sunday, Feb. 20 at noon and Monday, Feb. 21 at 7 a.m.
"I'm proud of the way we played today; B-W gave us a lot of challenges but we were able to withstand their runs," Rhodes said. "The type of playing we've done in January and into February, we just keep getting better and we're not ready for this season to end just yet."
Looking forward, the Polar Bears will host the Student Princes quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. in the ONU Sports Center, following the women's team's quarterfinal match against Muskingum.