By Caleb Scott
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball won its second straight contest as it defeated Wilmington 83-69 Wednesday evening at Performance Arena.
The Polar Bears move to .500 and improve to 3-3 overall and remain undefeated (2-0) in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Quakers fall to 3-4, 0-2.
Four Polar Bears scored in double figures, led by 23 points from junior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter).
Burger also grabbed a career and game-high eight rebounds and dished out a game-high five assists.
Seniors Konnor Baker (Ada) and Devon Allen (Lima/Senior) each added 16 points and pulled down five and seven rebounds, respectively.
Also scoring in double figures for Northern was senior Aron Thress (Lancaster/Amanda Clearcreek) with 10 points.
After falling in an early 6-1 hole, a jumper by Burger and a 3-pointer from Baker pulled the Polar Bears within 7-6 just over three minutes into the contest.
The Quakers would hold a slim lead throughout the first half until three made free throws from Burger and a jumper by Baker pushed gave ONU a 16-14 lead with 12:00 remaining in the first half.
After a WC layup with 2:56 remaining in the first half closed the gap to 35-30, Northern would use a 12-0 run fueled by eight points from Allen to end the half and take a 47-30 lead into the break.
After exchanging multiple buckets to begin the second period, Allen would get a steal and nail a 3-pointer at the other end at the 17:09 mark to give ONU its largest lead at 56-36.
Wilmington would pull within 76-66 before Northern made 5-of-7 free throws in the final three minutes to ice the game.
The Polar Bears shot 24-of-46 (56.5 percent) from the field, including 6-of-12 (50.0 percent) from the three point line.
ONU also won the rebounding battle by a 36-22 margin.
Ohio Northern returns to action Saturday as they travel to Mount Union to take on the Purple Raiders at 2 pm.
