Bachman ties career high with 18, Bruns has double-double with 31 and 15, but No. 10 Marietta edges Men's Basketball 87-80 in overtime
By Tim Glon
ADA — Sophomore Colton Bachman (Piqua) tied his career-high with 18 points in his first career start and senior All-American Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in a tough 87-80 overtime loss to No. 10-ranked Marietta on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center..
The Polar Bears fall to 4-11 overall and are 0-8 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Pioneers are now 13-2, 7-1.
Freshman Daniel Unruh (Elida) also tied a career-high 14 points and hit a 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to send the game into overtime. He scored ONU's final nine points in regulation over a 4:56 span.
Trailing 75-72 with 3.8 seconds left, Unruh came off a screen and nailed a floating three to tie the game at 75.
But the Pioneers scored the first four points of overtime and did not trail in the extra session.
MC led 75-68 with 2:05 to go in regulation and Unruh scored on a floater in the lane with 1:49 to go.
He followed with a steal and a layup with 1:15 left to pull Northern within 75-72.
After a Marietta miss and three timeouts, Unruh nailed a three from the right wing just ahead of the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Ohio Northern got off to a solid start and a pair of free throws by Bruns gave the hosts a 32-22 lead with 4:33 left in the half.
ONU led by as many as 44-33 with 1:24 left in first period behind 15 first-half points from Bruns and 13 first half points from Bachman.
"We played better today than we did last game," ONU head coach Rich Bensman said. "I'm pleased with how we played and how we are working at getting better each day. We got off a a good start and shot the ball well from deep. We played very well against a top-10 ranked team and had chances to win the game."
Marietta was led by 25 points from Jason Ellis and 13 points each from Caleb Hoying and Lukas Isaly.
ONU made 31-of-67 shots from the field for 46.3 percent and were 9-of-28 from three-point range for 32.1 percent, while MC converted 32-of-72 shot attempts for 44.4 percent and 8-of-26 three-pointers for 30.8 percent.
Marietta out-rebounded Ohio Northern 43-38 and won the turnover battle 18-11.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday at Otterbein.
