Napier's clutch free throws push Men's Basketball past Heidelberg 65-64
By Brandt Marshall
TIFFIN — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team defeated Heidelberg 65-64 on Wednesday night at Seiberling Gymnasium.
The Polar Bears improve to 8-8 overall and 4-5 in the OAC while dropping the Student Princes to 12-4, 7-2. The win moves Northern into a 3-way tie for fifth place in the OAC with Otterbein and Marietta. Northern currently owns the tiebreaker over Otterbein with their 73-71 overtime victory on Jan. 4.
Reigning OAC Player of the Week senior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) led the way for ONU with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Freshman Will Miller (Ottoville) added 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals, knocking down 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
The Student Princes were led by Seth Hohman with 15 points and five rebounds.
A slow start from Northern translated to a 10-4 deficit with 13:31 left in the first half.
The Polar Bears battled back to take a 23-18 lead on a 9-2 run on back-to-back made triples from Napier and was capped off when Miller made the second of his three treys.
Heidelberg responded by chipping away at the ONU lead and took a 34-33 lead into halftime.
Northern opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take a seven-point advantage with just under four minutes gone. Senior Michael Berner (Springboro) added five of his 11 points during the run.
The hosts closed the gap to two with a triple from Hohman, but Northern quickly responded with a 7-0 run capped by a dunk from Berner.
The Student Princes again refused to be put away as they answered with an 8-0 run to cut the Northen lead to one with 6:27 remaining.
A pair of free throws and a layup from senior Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) found ONU up 61-58 with 3:17 remaining.
Again the hosts were kept alive by Hohman, who made a triple with 1:08 left to tie it up at 61.
Napier and Emmanuel Perdue traded layups, and Perdue made his and-1 attempt to put the hosts up 64-63 as Northern called timeout with 29 seconds remaining.
ONU had the ball out of the timeout and Napier grabbed his own rebound with two seconds left and was fouled. He then nailed both foul shots to give the Polar Bears the 65-64 advantage.
Ohio Northern made 25-of-59 field goals for 42.4% and was 10-of-22 from 3-point range for 45.5%, while Heidelberg made 23-of-59 field goals for 39.0% and was 8-of-21 from beyond the arc for 38.1%.
ONU was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line for 83.3%, and HU was 10-of-11 for 90.9%.
The Student Princes out-rebounded Northern by a 37-34 margin.
The Polar Bears continue OAC action on Saturday in the opener of a men's-women's doubleheader at Marietta at 2 p.m.