Lucas Pennington scores 19 to lead Men's Basketball past Otterbein 78-67 in OAC opener
By Caleb Scott
ADA – Senior Lucas Pennington nailed five 3-pointers and scored 19 points to lead Ohio Northern past Otterbein 78-67 Wednesday night in a men's basketball game at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Cardinals fall to 1-4, 0-1.
Sophomore Konnor Baker added 17 points and five rebounds for the Polar Bears, while sophomore Alex Radkiewicz added 14 points and five boards.
Otterbein was led by Matt Hughes, who scored game-high 21 points.
Northern surged ahead after a layup by sophomore Joey Hurless capped off a 16-0 run to put the Polar Bears up 24-13 with 8:35 remaining in the first half.
A pair of free throws by freshman Grant Pepper completed a 12-4 run to give the Polar Bears a 43-25 advantage heading into the half.
Otterbein closed the gap to 10 points with 40 seconds remaining in the game but couldn't get any closer as Northern closed out the second half making 6-of-8 free throws.
Both teams finished the game with 37 rebounds apiece.
ONU shot 44.6 percent from the field hitting 25-of-56 of their shots while Otterbein shot 46.2 percent going 24-of-52 from the field.
The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday as they travel Alliance for an OAC matchup with Mount Union at 4 pm.
