Schnelle powers Men's Basketball past Marietta 58-54 and into the Semifinals of OAC Tournament

Ohio Northern got an outstanding second half performance from senior Scott Schnelle and knocked off Marietta 58-54 Tuesday night in the Quarterfinals of the 2012 Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at a loud, boisterous Ban Johnson Fieldouse.

The sixth-seeded Polar Bears (14-13) advance to the semifinals Thursday night at second-seeded Capital, while the Pioneers end their season with a 17-9 mark.

Schnelle led ONU with 19 points and six rebounds and four assists, while senior Tony Meyer scored 10.

The Pioneers were led by J.J. Martin with 16 points, Trevor Halter with 11 points and Tyler Hammond with 10 points.

Schnelle took over the game in the second half, either scoring or assisting on all but two of ONU's 23 points in the last 19:03 mark to the :12.8 second mark of the second half.

His basket at the 4:16 mark gave ONU the lead for good at 49-48 and another layup with 3:36 to go put the Polar Bears up 51-48.

After a Martin basket brought MC within 51-50, Schnelle assisted on a 3-pointer by sophomore Jared Horstman and it was 54-50 ONU with 2:41 to play.

Schnelle nailed a pair of free throws with 45 seconds to play to extend the lead to 56-50.

Leading 56-54, Horstman made one of two free throws with 12.8 seconds to play to give ONU a 57-54 lead, setting up a potential game-tying three-pointer by the Pioneers.

But Martin's three rattled out, sophomore Branden Rushton grabbed the rebound and made a free throw with .8 seconds left to ice the game.

Meyer scored all 10 of his points in the first half as the Polar Bears held off an early run to take a 31-28 halftime lead.

Ohio Northern made 22 of 51 field goal attempts for 43 percent, while Marietta made 20 of 41 shots for 49 percent.

Each team was 8 of 11 from the foul line and MC made 6 of 16 three-pointers to 5 of 10 for ONU.

The Polar Bears out-rebounded the Pioneers 28-27.