Napier scores 20 as Men's Basketball falls in tight 73-66 contest with No. 3-ranked Mount Union
By Tim Glon
ADA — Senior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) scored 20 points to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in a tight 73-66 loss to No. 3-ranked Mount Union on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears fall to 9-10 overall and are 5-7 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Purple Raiders improve to 17-2, 10-2.
Napier finished just one rebound shy of his 20th career double-double, adding a game-high nine rebounds to his scoring total.
Senior Landen Long (Mason) chipped in 12 points and senior Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) and freshman Will Miller (Ottoville) added 11 points each for ONU.
MtU was led by Corey Hudson with 17 points.
Northern got a basket by Miller and four consecutive points from Long to go on a 6-0 run to grab an early 26-19 lead with 6:30 left in the first half.
The Raiders rallied and scored a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to lead 34-33 at intermission.
A basket inside by senior Michael Berner (Springboro) gave ONU a 35-34 lead 1:17 into the second period.
MtU then went on a 16-5 run to lead 50-40 at the 11:45 mark.
The lead was 60-48 when back-to-back 3-pointers from Miller brought ONU within 60-54 with 5:20 left.
Scott scored with 2:20 remaining to close the deficit to 64-59, but UMU would make seven of its final eight free throws to put the game away.
Ohio Northern made 24-of-51 field goal attempts for 47.1 percent and was 7-of-18 from 3-point range for 38.9 percent, while Mount Union made 26-of-59 field goals for 44.1 percent and was 8-of-23 from beyond the arc for 34.8 percent.
ONU was 11-of-17 from the free-throw line for 64.7 percent, and MU was 13-of-16 for 81.3 percent.
Mount Union won the rebounding battle 35-28.
The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday with a key OAC contest at Otterbein.
