Men's Basketball tips off OAC Tournament play with 88-69 quarterfinal victory over Wilmington

ADA — Third-seeded Ohio Northern took down 6th-seeded Wilmington 88-69 behind a combined 44 points from junior Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) and senior Will Miller (Ottoville) in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday.

• Records: Ohio Northern (18-8 Overall), Wilmington (11-15 Overall).
• Venue: ONU Sports Center — Ada, Ohio.

The Game

• Maag led the Polar Bears in scoring with a career-high 23 points and 10 boards. This is also his second straight game recording a double-double. 
• Miller added 21 points of his own. 
• Sophomore Conye Gaston (Toledo/Christain) contributed 13 points off the bench
• Sophomore Aiden Harris (Pandora Gilboa) pitched in 11 points. 
• Wilmington cut the lead to 74-69 with 3:00 left in the contest, but Ohio Northern put any comeback to rest as they closed the game out on a 14-0 run. 
• ONU used a 7-1 run from 8:40 to 5:42 to build a 70-61 lead.
• The Polar Bears led 42-40 at halftime.
• Neither team led by more than 5 points in the 1st half. 
• Ohio Northern was 30-of-55 from the floor for 54.5 percent and made 4-of-16 three-pointers for 25.0 percent, while Wilmington finished 23-of-52 from the field for 44.2 percent and 4-of-17 from three-point range for 23.5 percent. 
• ONU made 24-of-36 free throws for 66.7 percent and WC was 19-of-26 from the foul line for 73.1 percent.
• The Polar Bears outrebounded the Quakers 39-25.

Notables

• Ohio Northern now leads the all-time series 49-34 over Wilmington. 
• Miller is now 19th all-time in Northern with 1299 points in 102 career games. Miller is also ranked 7th in the conference in ppg with 15.9. 
• Miller is now in the 8th in ONU history with 162 steals.
• This is Ohio Northern's first victory in the OAC Tournament since their 2021-22 victory over Muskingum 82-73.
• Ohio Northern continues its 115th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1399-1091, a winning percentage of .561.
• Head coach Jon Tropf is in his first season at Ohio Northern with a 18-8 record.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will continue OAC Tournament play when they travel to face #20 Otterbein in the semifinals on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.