Baker, Thress each have double-doubles as Men's Basketball tops Otterbein 100-92
By Tim Glon
ADA — Juniors Konnor Baker and Aron Thress each had double-doubles to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 100-92 victory over Otterbein on Wednesday night at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears run their winning streak to three games and improve to 8-10 overall and 5-6 in Ohio Athletic Conference play.
The Cardinals fall to 3-15, 1-10.
Thress scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and Baker scored 16 points and pulled a career-high 13 rebounds for Ohio Northern.
Junior Devon Allen scored 14 points, including a 10-for-10 effort from the foul line in the final 1:55, sophomore Nate Burger scored 11 points and sophomore Ryan Geise added 10 points for ONU.
OU was led by Matt Hughes with 28 points and Jake Phillis with 18 points.
Northern used a 24-9 run to turn an early 15-13 lead into a commanding 39-22 advantage with 7:08 left to play.
The lead eventually grew to 52-32 before the Polar Bears settled for a 52-36 halftime lead.
A tip-in by Baker at the 14:53 mark gave ONU a 62-42 lead.
But the Cardinals chipped away at the lead and eventually drew within 80-76 with 4:29 left in the game.
But a free throw by sophomore Travis Feitshans, a basket by Allen and a basket by junior Joey Hurless extended the lead to 85-76 with 2:46 to go.
The Cardinals would not get closer than six points the rest of the way as Ohio Northern went 13-of-16 from the foul line in the final two minutes.
Hurless dished out 10 assists and had three steals for the Polar Bears.
Freshman Ryan Bruns had six points and two rebounds in limited minutes due to foul trouble, but did manage to set a school record on Wednesday.
He blocked three shots to give him an ONU freshman-record 46 on the season, breaking the previous record of 44 set in 1978-79 by All-American and ONU Hall of Famer Stan Mories.
ONU made 33-of-65 from the floor for 50.8 percent, while OU was 33-of-72 for 45.8 percent.
Northern out-rebounded Otterbein 44-34.
The Polar Bears will take their three-game winning streak on the road to No. 4-ranked John Carroll on Saturday at 2 pm at University Heights.