BY CALEB SCOTT
ADA — A late effort by the Ohio Northern men's basketball team came up short as Northern fell 60-50 to Otterbein Wednesday evening at the Rike Center.
The Polar Bears fall to 5-7 overall and 3-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Cardinals move to 6-6, 2-3.
Northern was led offensively by senior Devon Allen (Lima/Senior) with a team high 13 points and a game-high five assists.
Senior Konnor Baker (Ada) chipped in 11 points and added six rebounds.
Senior Aron Thress (Lancaster/Amanda Clearcreek) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to lead Northern defensively.
The Polar Bears struggled out of the gate as Otterbein grabbed a 19-9 lead midway through the first half.
A quick 5-0 run capped of by a 3-pointer from junior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) pulled ONU with 14-19 with 8:33 remaining in the half.
The Cardinals took a 27-20 lead into the half after Northern exchanged buckets with the Cardinals in the final two minutes.
Baker would waste no time in the second half as he nailed a 3-pointer just 10 seconds into the second half to pull Northern within 27-23.
From there, Otterbein used a 10-0 run to push the lead to 37-23 with 17:55 remaining in the second half.
After the Cardinals saw their lead grow to 53-35 with 3:04 remaining in the contest, Northern would use a 12-2 run fueled by eight points from Allen to close the gap to 55-47 with 56 seconds remaining in the contest.
From there, OC connected on 3-of-4 free throws to seal the 60-50 victory.
Northern shot 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the field, including 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from the 3-point line.
Northern won the rebounding battle by a 39-26 margin.
The Polar Bears return to the court Saturday as they play host to No. 13-ranked Marietta at 3 pm at the ONU Sports Center.
