3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left lifts Baldwin Wallace past Men's Basketball 86-83 in OAC Tournament Quarterfinals
By Tim Glon
BEREA — Baldwin Wallace made a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in the game to edge Ohio Northern 86-83 in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday night at Ursprung Gymnasium.
The Yellow Jackets (16-10 overall) advance to Thursday's semifinals at No. 4-ranked Marietta.
The Polar Bears end their season at 12-14.
Junior Aron Thress led Ohio Northern with 23 points and 11 rebounds, picking up his sixth double-double of the season.
Sophomore Nate Burger scored 19 points, all in the second half, including 17 in a span of under seven minutes as the Polar Bears regained a 65-62 lead with 7:29 left in the game.
Baldwin Wallace's Cam Kuhn led all scorers with 37 points.
Thress banked in a turn around jumper and Burger followed with a lauyp and Northern led 75-71 with 4:03 to go.
After a Kuhn hit a 3-pointer, a Thress 3-point play made it 78-74 with 2:47 left.
Thress made one of two free throws with 46.3 seconds left to extend ONU's lead to 81-79.
Junior Konnor Baker drilled two free throws with :20.2 remaining to give the Polar Bears an 83-79 advantage.
Zack Brandy made two free throws on the other end to pull Baldwin Wallace within 83-81 with :15.2 to go.
Baker missed a pair of free throws with 14.2 seconds to go and Warner made a contested 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to give BW its first lead since the 11:10 mark of the second half.
"I'm very proud of the way our guys played hard all year," ONU head coach Kevin Byrne said. "We battled a very good team hard on the road and led by two points in the final seconds. We played well and out ourselves in a position to win. Sometimes late in the game crazy things happen. Sometimes shots just go in."
Northern turned the ball over on its next possession and a pair of Kuhn free throws iced the game.
ONU made 32-of-69 field goals for 46.4 percent and was 8-of-21 from 3-point range for 38.1 percent, while BW was 25-of-58 from the floor for 43.1 percent and was 11-of-28 from three for 39.3 percent.
Each team had 39 rebounds.
Northern jumped out to a 27-18 lead with 6:56 left in the first half, but BW closed the period on an 18-5 run to take a 36-32 lead into intermission.
That lead held until Burger's offensive explosion put the Polar Bears ahead midway through the second period.