Late basket lifts Otterbein to 81-79 victory over Men's Basketball despite 22 points from Long

By Tim Glon

ADA — Ohio Northern battled back from a 12-point second half deficit, but a basket with 12.1 seconds left gave Otterbein an 81-79 Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball victory on Wednesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears fall to 6-10 overall and are 2-7 in the OAC, while the Cardinals improve to 5-11, 2-7.

Freshman Landen Long (Mason) led four Polar Bears in scoring with 22 points.

Freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) added 18 points and eight rebounds, sophomore Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) added 17 points and junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) had 12 points, five rebounds and a career-high 5 blocks for ONU.

Otterbein also had four players in double figures in scoring, led by Mo Beavers with a game-high 23 points.

Trailing 78-77, senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) nailed a pair of free throws with 22 seconds to play to give ONU a 79-78 lead.

Justin Carter answered with a 3-point play with 12.1 seconds left to put Otterbein up 81-79.

Long got a highly contested three-pointer off just ahead of the horn, but it missed and OU held on for the its first win in Ada since 2013.

Beavers made a 3-pointer with 8:26 left in the game to give OU its biggest lead of the night at 63-51.

But the Polar Bears responded with a 3-pointer and three free throws from Long, a 3-pointer from Phillips and a pair of free throws by Napier to post an 11-0 run and pull within 63-62 with 6:14 to go.

The teams traded scores for the next four minutes and a free throw by Long tied the game at 73-all with 2:26 left.

OU scored the next five points to go up 78-73 with 1:47 left, but Waugh scored and Phillips hit two free throws to make it 78-77 with 59 seconds remaining.

The Polar Bear defense forced a turnover with 36 seconds to go, setting up Bryan's free throws with 22 ticks left.

Ohio Northern made 24-of-53 field goal attempts for 45.3 percent and was 10-of-22 from 3-point range for 45.5 percent.

Otterbein hit 26-of-51 shots from the floor for 51.0 percent and made 10-of-21 from beyond the arc for 47.6 percent.

OU out-rebounded ONU 33-22.

Both teams were outstanding from the foul line as Ohio Northern hit 21-of-24 for 87.5 percent and Otterbein hit 19-of-20 for 95.0 percent.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with a 2 pm contest at Capital.