Junior Ryan Bruns leads Men's Basketball past Denison 93-64

By Caleb Scott

GRANVILLE — Junior Ryan Bruns' (Chickasaw/Marion Local) second consecutive double-double led the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 93-64 road victory at Denison on Wednesday evening at Livingston Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears improve to 6-3 overall, while the Big Red drop to 6-4.

Bruns led all scorers with a 34-point effort and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the team defensively.

Senior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) added 23 points and six rebounds, while senior Joey DiOrio (Columbus/Watterson) chipped in 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

With Denison leading early on 9-8, the Polar Bears used a 15-0 run capped by a steal from sophomore Austin Allemeier (Elida) and a fastbreak layup from Burger to take a commanding 23-9 lead with 12:20 remaining in the first half.

A Big Red jumper with 4:47 remaining in the half pulled Denison within 37-23, but the Polar Bears would close the half out by scoring 14 of the next 17 points to take a 51-26 lead into the intermission.

With ONU ahead 81-55, Bruns would score the next three points of the game to give ONU its biggest lead of the evening at 84-55 with 5:19 remaining in the contest.

Junior Kevin Austin (Cincinnati/Winton Woods) was able to seal the victory with 58 seconds remaining in the after an offensive rebound from senior Alex Sibila (Zionsville, Ind.) led to an Austin 3-pointer.

Northern was 33-of-61 (54.1 percent) from the field, including 12-of-18 (66.7 percent) from 3-point range, while the Big Red shot 21-of-56 (37.5 percent) from the field, including 8-of-25 (32.0 percent) from the 3-point line.

ONU won the rebounding battle by a 39-28 margin and held a 10-0 lead in fast break points.

The Polar Bears return to action on Dec. 29 as they compete in the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn. and take on Lynchburg (Va.) at 12 pm.