Napier's double-double leads Men's Basketball past Wilmington 95-86 in 2021 season opener

By Tim Glon

WILMINGTON — Sophomore C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) had his second career double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 95-86 season-opening victory at Wilmington on Friday night at Raizk Arena.

The Polar Bears (1-0 overall, 1-0 Ohio Athletic Conference) had four other players score in double figures.

Junior Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and tied a career-high with six assists, sophomore Michael Berner (Springboro) had a career-high 17 points, sophomore Landen Long had 17 points and sophomore Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) had a career-high 10 points for ONU.

Jeffery Mansfield had 21 points and eight assists to lead the Quakers (0-1, 0-1).

Waugh made a pair of free throws and Berner got a layup as ONU broke a 43-all tie and took the lead for good at 47-43 with 3:03 left in the first half.

Northern opened the second half on an 11-4 run to go up 65-53 with 16:16 remaining to play.

The Quakers got within 88-84 with 1:56 left in the game, but two free throws by Long at the 1:14 mark extended the lead to 90-84.

Scott had a dunk with 34 seconds to go to make it 92-84 and ONU would make three of four free throws to ice the game and win its third consecutive season opener.

Ohio Northern made 32-of-58 field goals for 55.2 percent, was 27-of-41 from the foul line for 65.9 percent and made 4-of-12 3-pointers for 33.3 percent.

Wilmington made 30-of-67 field foals for 44.8 percent, was 8-of-28 from beyond the arc for 28.6 percent and made 18-of-27 free throws for 66.7 percent.

Each team had 34 rebounds, but ONU enjoyed a 52-38 advantage in the paint.

The Polar Bears and Quakers will battle again on Saturday night at 6 pm at the ONU Sports Center in the second game of the back-to-back home-and-home schedule the OAC has adopted for the 2021 season.