Joey DiOrio's double-double keys Men's Basketball in 101-91 victory over No. 13 Marietta

By Tim Glon

ADA — Ohio Northern had five players score in double figures and shot 59 percent from the floor in a 101-91 victory over No. 13-ranked Marietta on Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears (6-7 overall, 4-2 Ohio Athletic Conference) got 19 points each from seniors Devon Allen (Lima/Senior), Konnor Baker (Ada) and Aron Thress (Lancaster/Amanda-Clearcreek).

Junior Joey DiOrio (Columbus/Watterson) had a double-double in his first career start with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds and junior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) added 17 points for ONU.

Northern moves into a 4-way tie for first place in the OAC with Marietta, Mount Union and John Carroll.

The Pioneers (9-4 overall, 4-2 OAC) got 30 points and seven rebounds from A.J. Edwards to lead four players in double figures in scoring.

Northern led wire-to-wire in the game, scoring the first seven points, and did not trail.

The Polar Bears scored 31 points in the first 9:34 of the game to lead 31-19.

That advantage grew to 47-34 in the final minute of the half before Marietta trimmed the lead to 47-38 at intermission.

MC pulled within six points on four separate occasions in the second half, but each time the Polar Bears had an answer.

A 3-point play by Burger gave ONU its largest lead of the night at 87-72 with 5:14 to play.

Marietta got within 96-90 with 45 second left, but a 3-point play by Thress extended the lead to 99-90 with 30 seconds to play.

Ohio Northern made a blistering 59.3 percent of its field goal attempts (35-of-59) and was 12-of-22 from beyond the 3-point arc for 54.5 percent.

MC made 35-of-64 field goals attempts for 54.7 percent, but were only 4-of-22 from 3-point range for 22.2 percent.

Marietta out-rebounded ONU 34-28.

The Polar Bears will return to action Wedensday night with a 7 pm home contest against Baldwin Wallace at the ONU Sports Center.