Miller scores 19, but early deficit proves too deep as Men's Basketball falls at Heidelberg 77-69

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team rallied from an 18-point first half deficit, but ultimately fell 77-69 at Heidelberg on Wednesday evening in an Ohio Athletic Conference showdown. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (9-7 overall, 3-6 OAC), Heidelberg (11-5 overall, 7-2 OAC).
• Venue: Seiberling Gymnasium - Tiffin, Ohio.

The Game

• Junior Will Miller (Ottoville) led the Polar Bears with 19 points.  
• Sophomore Jadi Cunningham Jr. (Westerville/South) added another 17 points and grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 5 assists.
• Sophomore Carter Reese (Westerville/North) had 11 points as well as 4 assists. 
• Eric Panning led the Students Princes with 22 points.
• Heidelberg would hold a 24-6 lead with 6:37 remaining in the first half.
• Northern would start chipping away at the defecit and manage to cut the lead to 34-20 by the end of the first half. 
• ONU would cut the lead to 44-39 with a 19-10 run in the first 5:54 of the second half.
• Heidelberg would answer with a 12-2 run to extend the lead to 56-41 with 10:35 left in the game. 
• Trailing 62-45, Ohio Northern would respond with a 10-1 run to get within 63-55 with 4:27 remaining in the game.
• A three pointer by Miller with 2:06 left would cut the lead to 67-62, but the Polar Bears would not get it any closer than that. 
• Ohio Northern was 26-of-57 from the floor for 45.6 percent and made 10-of-29 three-pointers for 34.5 percent, while Heidelberg finished 26-of-49 from the field for 53.1 percent and 5-of-11 from three-point range for 45.5 percent.
• ONU made 7-of-11 free throws for 63.6 percent and HU was 20-of-27 from the foul line for 74.1 percent.
• The Polar Bears out rebounded the Student Princes 30-29.

Notables

• Ohio Northern now leads the all time series 109-70 with Heidelberg.
• Cunningham Jr. is ranked first in the conference in steals with 37 and assists with 95. 
• Ohio Northern is ranked 1st in the conference in turnovers forced (15.3 tpg), and points per game allowed (67.4 ppg).
• Sophomore Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Gandorf) is ranked first on the OAC in field goal percentage, boasting a 64.0 percentage. 
• Ohio Northern continues its 114th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1380-1082, a winning percentage of .560.
• Head coach Neal Young is in his third season at Ohio Northern with a 32-34 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return home to face off against OAC opponent John Carroll on Saturday at 3 p.m.