Rushton, Pennington lead Men's Basketball in 82-64 loss at John Carroll

By Tim Glon

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Senior Branden Rushton scored 20 points and junior Lucas Pennington added 16 points for the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in an 82-64 loss at John Carroll Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears fall to 2-4 overall and are 0-2 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Blue Streaks improve to 5-1, 1-1.

Junior Jordan Martin added 11 points and senior Dominique Royal added a team-high seven rebounds.

JCU was led by David Henrickson with 14 points, Jake Hollinger with 12 points and Simon Kucharewicz with 10 points.

ONU made 25-of-66 field goal attempts for 37.9 percent, while JCU made 28-of-52 field goals for 53.8 percent.

Northern was 6-of-22 from 3-point range for 27.3 percent, while Carroll was 3-of-14 from 3-point range for 21.4 percent.

JCU won the rebounding battle by a 41-36 margin.

The hosts got off to a quick start, racing to leads of 11-3 and 18-6 in the first six minutes of the contest.

Pennington scored two baskets and a 3-pointer as ONU answered with a 10-0 run to pull within 20-18 with 11:17 left in the first half.

Another Pennington basket a minute later got Northern within 21-20.

JCU scored the final five points of the first half to take a 43-37 lead at intermission.

A Rushton jumper at the 15:21 mark of the game tied the game for the first time at 48-all.

But the Blue Streaks would regain the lead just 12 second later, sparking a 7-2 run, to rake a 55-50 lead with 11:52 to go.

JCU would slowly pull away and would lead by as many as 76-61 with 3:24 left in the game.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday with a 4 pm home contest with Muskingum at the ONU Sports Center.