Strong shooting display leads Men's Basketball past Cal Tech 102-69

By: Andrew Korba

PASADENA (Calif.) -- The Ohio Northern men's basketball team shot 40-of-61 (65.6 percent) from the field, on its way to a 102-69 win over Cal Tech of Sunday afternoon at the Braun Athletic Center.

The Polar Bears have now won three in a row and move to 5-4 on the season, while the Beavers fall to 3-7.

ONU was also 10-of-16 in (62.5 percent) in three pointers and finished 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

Senior Branden Rushton led five ONU players in double figure scoring with a game-high 21 points. He also tied his career-high with seven rebounds.

Junior Jordan Martin added a career-high 15 points off the bench.

Senior Dominique Royal finshed with 13 points, senior Jared Horstman scored 12 and freshman Alex Radkiewicz added 10 more.

The Polar Bears took control of the game early, scoring the first nine points, to jump out to an early lead.

ONU used a 10-0 run, capped off on a three by Rushton, to push its lead to 21-4 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

Cal Tech would chip away and cut the Northern lead to 30-19, but the Polar Bears came right back with a 12-4 run to push their lead back to 42-23.

A layup from Royal in the closing moments of the first half gave ONU a 50-30 advantage at the break.

A 12-1 run midway through the second half by ONU put the game away.

The Beavers finished the game 24-of-59 (40.7 percent) in shooting and were 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) in three pointers.

Northern won the rebounding battle 34-28.

ONU saw its bench outscore Cal Tech 46-22 and also held a 48-34 advantage in points on the paint.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Tuesday, when it travels to face off against Chapman (Calif.) at 7 pm EST.