Men's Basketball tallies 19-0 scoring run in narrow 62-59 defeat to No. 11 Mount Union

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team put together a 19-0 scoring run and got double-figure scoring from three players in a tight 62-59 loss to No. 11 Mount Union on Saturday afternoon.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (3-5 overall, 0-3 OAC), #11 Mount Union (7-1 overall, 2-1 OAC)
• Venue: ONU Sports Center - Ada, Ohio

The Game

• Freshman Carter Reese (Westerville/North) led ONU in scoring 18 points and added five rebounds.
• Sophomore Hayden Hanson (Cedarville) tallied 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks off the bench.
• Freshman Jadi Cunningham Jr. (Columbus/Westerville South) posted 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
• Christian Parker and Collen Gurley led Mount Union in scoring with 20 and 19 points, respectively.
• The Purple Raiders led 26-14 with 6:15 left in the opening half, but ONU closed the period on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to one, 26-25, at halftime.
• Hanson spurred that run with seven points to go with four from Cunningham Jr.. Hanson's 3-pointer with 1:18 left in the half brought the Polar Bears within one point.
• Northern extended its scoring run to 19-0 to start the second half with four points from Reese and two each from sophomore Will Miller (Ottoville) and freshman Cayden Jacoby (Pettisville) for a 33-26 edge.
• A 3-pointer from Reese and three free throws from Hanson extended the ONU lead to 39-28 with 16:02 left in the game.
• A triple from Parker tied the score at 49-all with 6:39 remaining, and the game was tight the rest of the way.
• A Reese 3-pointer got ONU within one, 60-59, with 2:07 left, but the Polar Bears were unable to get any closer.
• After a pair of free throws from Parker with seven seconds left, Cunningham Jr. missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
• Ohio Northern made 25-of-67 field goal attempts for 37.3%, including a 5-of-27 mark from 3-point range for 18.5%.
• Mount Union was 22-of-47 shooting for 46.8% and made 5-of-15 3-pointers for 33.3%.
• ONU was 4-of-8 from the foul line for 50%, and UMU was 13-of-19 for 68.4%.
• The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Purple Raiders 37-35.
• ONU finished with a 14-5 edge in points off turnovers and 19-9 advantage in second-chance points.

Notables

• Hanson's 14 points marked a single-game career high.
• Reese was coming off a career-high 25-point outing against Heidelberg and now has six double-figure scoring games this season.
• Cunningham recorded his fifth double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Ohio Northern is now 61-49 all-time against Mount Union, which includes a 35-20 mark in Ada.
• Mount Union is the defending national runner-up in NCAA Division III.
• Ohio Northern is playing its 113th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1361-1070, a winning percentage of .560.
• Northern is now 2-2 at home this season.
• Head coach Neal Young is in his second season at Ohio Northern with a 13-20 record.
• The members of the ONU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023, who were inducted during a ceremony on Friday night, were recognized at halftime of Saturday's game. The Class of 2023 includes Kimi Blewett, J.R. Cipra, Katie (Weininger) Kuhn, Stu Levine, Luke Miller and Jackie (Mangola) Price.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears return to action Saturday, Dec. 16, for an OAC game at Marietta at 2 p.m.