Napier nets 24 points as Men's Basketball beats Muskingum 61-50
By Brandt Marshall
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team won a crucial OAC matchup 61-50 over Muskingum on Saturday afternoon at the King Horn Sports Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 7-8 overall and 3-5 in the OAC while dropping the Fighting Muskies to 1-14, 1-7.
Senior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) led the way for ONU with 24 points and four rebounds, shooting an impressive 9-of-11 from the floor.
Freshman Mason Studer (Galion/Colonel Crawford) chipped in a career-high 11 points and knocked down all eight of his free throw attempts.
The Muskies were led by Logan Stotzer with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Northern took advantage of a cold start from the visitors, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. But Muskingum responded with a 9-2 run to take an 11-8 lead with 12:38 remaining in the first half.
The hosts proved to be unfazed by the run and retook the lead with 10:27 left to play in the half on a made jumper from senior Landen Long (Mason).
Northern then stretched its lead to 12 before the end of the first half and went to the break up 29-21.
Napier opened the second half by scoring the Polar Bears' first four points, as he had done in the first half.
The Muskies did not go quietly, as they trailed by only three at the first media timeout, 35-32.
A 3-pointer from Napier gave ONU a 42-35 edge with 9:46 left, and a triple from sophomore Ethan Bell (Marion/River Valley) extended the lead to 50-40 with 5:03 remaining.
The teams traded baskets for the next four minutes before Studer provided five of Northern's final six points from the charity stripe.
Ohio Northern made 17-of-41 field goals for 41.5% and was 4-of-13 from 3-point range for 30.8%, while Muskingum made 18-of-49 field goals for 36.7% and was 4-of-16 from beyond the arc for 25%.
ONU was 23-of-27 from the free-throw line for 85.2%, and MU was 10-of-13 for 76.9%.
ONU out-rebounded the Muskies by a 29-28 margin.
The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a road game at OAC foe Heidelberg.
