Men's Basketball drops 70-58 decision at Trine (Ind.)

By Tim Glon

ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Ohio Northern men's basketball team suffered through two long scoring droughts and dropped a 70-58 decision at Trine (Ind.) Saturday afternoon at Hershey Hall.

The Polar Bears fall to 5-6 overall, while the Thunder improve to 7-4.

Sophomore Devon Allen led Ohio Northern with 11 points, senior Isaiah Roux added 10 points and sophomore Joey Hurless and senior Lucas Pennington added nine points each.

Will Dixon scored 22 points, Tyler Good scored 19 points and Jared Holmquist had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Trine.

Leading 49-45 lead with 9:58 left in the game, ONU went scoreless for a 5:08 span as the Thunder scored 11 consecutive points to go up 56-49 with 7:05 to play.

A basket by Roux at the 4:50 mark ended the drought and brought ONU within 56-51.

But TU went on a 10-4 run from there to take control at 66-55 with just 1:02 remaining.

"We've had too many stretches lately where they ball just doesn't go in for us," ONU head coach Kevin Byrne said. "We have not been consistent enough the last few games. We are playing hard and doing good things. The games are right there to be had, but we just haven't shot the ball well enough."

In the first half, ONU went 6:13 without a point and trailed 24-18 with 3:29 left in the half.

But the Polar Bears heated up and ended the first half on a 12-4 run to take a 30-28 lead into intermission.

Trine went 19-of-21 from the foul line for 90.5 percent in the game, while Ohio Northern made 7-of-11 free throws for 63.6 percent.

Northern was 23-of-52 from the floor for 44.2 percent and Trine was 23-of-48 from the field for 47.9 percent.

TU out rebounded ONU 29-28.

The Polar Bears will return to action Tuesday at 4 pm with a home contest with Rochester (N.Y.) at the ONU Sports Center.