Men’s Basketball falls on the road to John Carroll, 83-56
By: Andrew Korba
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team fell to John Carroll by an 83-56 score Saturday afternoon at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
With the loss, the Polar Bears fall to 9-10 overall and 5-7 in the OAC, while John Carroll improves to 14-4 (9-3 OAC).
Sophomore Branden Rushton led ONU with 13 points while senior Scott Schnelle added nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Freshman Jordan Martin scored a career-high eight points.
The Blue Streaks came out strong and used an early 7-2 run to open up a 15-8 lead with just over 12 minutes to play in the first half.
Northern would cut the deficit to 18-14 on a jumper by Rushton, but John Carroll would go on a 24-7 run in the final eight and a half minutes of the opening period to take a 42-21 lead into the half.
ONU began the second half with two quick baskets from Schnelle and Rushton to cut the Blue Streak lead to 42-25 with just over 19 minutes left.
JCU would then respond with a 17-4 run to take a 59-29 lead with 12:17 left in the game.
The Polar Bears used an 11-3 run to trim the John Carroll lead to 62-40 with 8:57 remaining. Martin scored four points during the run; Rushton added three points and Schnelle and sophomore Dominque Royal would each score a basket.
Northern could get no closer as the Blue Streaks would pick up the 83-56 victory.
The Polar Bears struggled shooting the ball going 22-of-52 (42%) from the field and 2-of-15 (13%) from beyond the arc.
John Carroll shot a solid 29-of-54 (54%) from the field and 5-of-12 (42%) in 3-pointers.
JCU dominated the rebounding battle pulling down 41 compared to just 26 for the Polar Bears.
The Blue Streaks had five players score in double figures, led by Kyle Hubbard who had 15. Kenny Janz would notch a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The win was also the 1,000th in John Carroll's program's history.
Ohio Northern will be in action again on Wednesday when they travel to Capital. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.