Men's Basketball clinches spot in OAC Tournament with 66-62 victory at Mount Union

ALLIANCE— The Ohio Northern men's basketball team earned a spot in next week's 6-team Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 66-62 victory at Mount Union on Wednesday afternoon behind 23 points from junior Will Miller (Ottoville).

The Basics:

• Records: Ohio Northern (14-11 overall, 8-10 OAC), Mount Union (17-8 overall, 14-4 OAC).
• Venue: Timken Gymnasium— Alliance, Ohio.

The Game

• Miller led the Polar Bears in scoring with 23 points.
• Sophomore Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) and sophmore Cayden Jacoby (Pettisville) scored 10 points each.
• Jadi Cunningham Jr. (South Westerville/Columbus) notched 8 assists and also grabbed 8 rebounds, a team high in both. 
• The Purple Raiders were led by Christain Parker with 26 points.
• Ohio Northern took the lead 30-23 on a 10-2 run with 4:50 left in the period.
• ONU went into the half up 32-29.
• Mount Union tied the game at 45-45 with 12:41 left in the game
• Northern eventually pushed the lead back out to 59-52 on a made three-pointer by Michael with 1:55 reaming in the game. 
• A three by Elijah Farrington would get the Purple Raiders to 62-60 with :49 left in the competiton.
• Sophomore Carter Reese (North Westerville/Columbus) got a look from three to push the lead back to 5, but would not convert, however a rebound by Jacoby gave Reese two free throws with 12 seconds left which he would sink making it 64-60.
• A made lay-up by Marcus Steele put the pressure back on the Polar Bears, but two made free throws by Miller with seven seconds to play served as the finishing blow.
• Ohio Northern was 21-of-44 from the floor for 47.7 percent and made 7-of-14 three-pointers for 50.0 percent, while Mount Union finished 23-of-55 from the field for 41.8 percent and 4-of-16 from three-point range for 25.0 percent.
• ONU made 17-of-23 free throws for 73.9 percent and MU was 12-of-20 from the foul line for 60.0 percent.
• The Purple Raiders out-rebounded the Polar Bears 33-26.

Notables

• With ONU's victory, Ohio Northern needed an Otterbein win at Capital on Saturday night and got it with a 79-62 Cardinal victory.
• The Polar Bears will be the No. 6 seed and play in the quarterfinals at No. 3 seed Heidelberg on Tuesday at 7 pm.
• Northern also clinched its second consecutive winning season with the win.
• Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 61-51 margin.
• Miller is ranked 16th in ONU history with 126 steals.
• Miller also came into the game ranked 4th in the OAC in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.3 percent. 
• Cunningham Jr. came in leading OAC in steals with 52 and is 2nd in assists with 128. 
• Cunningham Jr. is now ranked 17th in ONU's history with 268 assists.
• Ohio Northern entered the contest ranked 1st in the conference in assists per game (16.5) turnovers forced (15.0 tpg), and points per game allowed (68.1 ppg).
• Maag entered the game ranked 3rd in the OAC in field goal percentage, at 59.2 percent.
• Ohio Northern continues its 114th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1385-1086, a winning percentage of .560.
• Head coach Neal Young is in his third season at Ohio Northern with a 37-38 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action in the OAC Tournament Quarterfinals at Heidelberg on Tuesday at 7 pm.