Big second half leads Men's Basketball past John Carroll 92-81

By Tim Glon

ADA — Ohio Northern used a terrific second half performance to post a 92-81 Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over John Carroll Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.

Sophomore Konnor Baker scored 16 points to lead a balanced attack for the Polar Bears (10-9 overall, 5-7 OAC).

Sophomore Joey Hurless scored 15 points, sophomore Aron Thress had career-highs of 14 points and six rebounds and senior Isaiah Roux added 12 points for ONU.

Freshman Joey DiOrio grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and freshman Travis Feitshans added a career-high seven rebounds.

The Blue Streaks (13-5, 9-3) were led by Ryan Farragher with 19 points and David Hendrickson with 16 points.

Northern trailed 35-31 at halftime, but quickly tied the game at 38-all just 1:30 into the second half.

A 3-pointer by Baker at the 17:10 mark gave ONU the lead for good at 43-40.

Leading 58-54 with 10:35 left, sophomore Devon Allen made three free throws and nailed a 3-pointer to key a 10-3 run to put the hosts ahead 68-57 with 8:31 to play.

A pair of free throws by Baker pushed the Polar Bear lead to 78-60 with 4:43 to go and JCU would not get within 10 points the rest of the way.

Ohio Northern was 19-of-32 from the floor in the second half for 59.4 percent and out-rebounded JCU 28-16 in the final 20 minutes.

"The second half might have been our best half of basketball this season," ONU head coach Kevin Byrne said. "We really did a nice job defensively and on the boards. Many guys contributed today and we were able to shoot the ball well."

ONU finished the game 32-of-63 from the floor for 50.8 percent, compared to 27-of-69 shooting for JCU for 39.1 percent.

Northern was 19-of-25 from the foul line for 76 percent in the second half and was 22-of-33 for the game.

ONU out-rebounded JCU 48-38 in the contest.

The Polar Bears will take to the road on Wednesday for a 7:30 pm contest at Wilmington.