Men's Basketball holds off area-rival Bluffton 69-59 to notch first victory of season

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (1-1 Overall), Bluffton (0-1 Overall).
• Venue: Sommer Center— Bluffton, Ohio

The Game

• Senior Will Miller (Ottoville) led the team with 16 points. 
• Sophomore Aiden Harris (Pandora/Pandora-Gilboa) added 15 points and grabbed 5 boards. 
• Junior Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) added 10 points and grabbed a team high 9 rebounds.
• Neven Robison led the Beavers with 17 points.
• Northern used an 8-0 run to go up 57-46 with 7:36 left in the game.
• Bluffton managed a 10-0 run to get the game to 57-56 with 4:05 remaining. 
• The Polar Bears would sink 12 straight free throws in the final 2:34, stunting any comeback attempt from the Beavers. 
• In a tightly contested first half, Northern managed to build a 30-20 lead thanks to a 9-3 run at the 4:02 mark.
• Bluffton managed to battle back, cutting the lead to 31-30 as the half ended. 
• An 8-0 run in the second half established a 47-37 lead for ONU just 7:21 into the second half. 
• A 6-0 Beaver run cut the lead back to 49-46 with 9:58 left in the game.
• Ohio Northern was 21-of-50 from the floor for 42.0 percent and made 7-of-21 three-pointers for 33.3 percent, while Bluffton finished 21-of-51 from the field for41.2 percent and 1-of-13 from three-point range for 7.7 percent.
• ONU made 20-of-25 free throws for 80.0 percent and BU was 16-of-28 from the foul line for 57.1 percent.
• The Polar Bears out rebounded the Beavers 38-30.

Notables

• Northern now leads the all-time series with Bluffton 77-35.
• Miller is now ranked 16th in ONU history with 129 steals.
• Ohio Northern continues off its 115th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1382-1085, a winning percentage of .560.
• Head coach John Tropf Tropf is in his first season at Ohio Northern with a 1-1 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action when they host Ohio Weslyan in their home opener on Nov. 19 at 7 pm.