Maag scores 20, but Men's Basketball falls at Trine in heartbreaking loss 74-73 in season opener
November 7, 2025
TRINE (Ind.)— The Ohio Northern men's basketball team kicked off season with a heartbreaking loss at Trine (Ind.) 74-73 despite 38 combined points from junior Theo Maag and sophomore Aiden Harris on Friday night.
The Basics
- Records: Ohio Northern (0-1 Overall), Trine (Ind.) (1-0 Overall).
- Venue: MTI Center — Angola, Ind.
The Game
- Junior Theo Maag (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) led the team with 20 points and grabbed a team high 5 boards.
- Sophomore Aiden Harris (Pandora/Pandora-Gilboa) added 18 points.
- Senior Will Miller (Ottoville) pitched in 8 points and 4 rebounds.
- Danny Flood led the Thunder with 20 points.
- Ohio Northern jumped to an early lead behind a 6-0 run in answer to Trine drawing first blood.
- Harris tied the game at 33 with a 3-pointer with 0:32 left in the half.
- Northern jumped to a 41-36 lead 2:41 into the second half thanks to Maag scoring 6 straight.
- The Polar Bears strung together an 8-0 run in response to take a 55-47 lead with 11:30 left.
- Trine once again answered, cutting the lead to 58-55 at the 7:10 mark.
- Ohio Northern responded with another 8-3 run to push its lead to 66-58 with 4:18 left.
- The Thunder rattled off a 7-0 run to take a 70-69 lead with 75 seconds left.
- Maag drew a foul and knocked down a pair of free throws to retake the ONU lead with 0:55 seconds left.
- Flood made a pair of free throws which gave Trine the lead at 74-73 with 10 seconds to play.
- ONU had a chance to win the game on its final possession, but turned the ball over in the final seconds.
- In a closely contested contest, neither team would lead by more than 8 points.
- There were 20 lead exchanges and the game was tied at 11 different times.
- Ohio Northern was 26-of-68 from the floor for 41.2 percent and made 6-of-23 three-pointers for 26.1 percent, while Trine finished 28-of-56 from the field for 50.0 percent and 12-of-24 from three-point range for 50.0 percent.
- ONU made 11-of-12 free throws for 91.7 percent and TU was 6-of-9 from the foul line for 66.7 percent.
- The Thunder out rebounded the Polar Bears 41-31.
Notables
- Northern now leads the all-time series 9-8.
- Miller is now ranked 16th in ONU history with 128 steals.
- Ohio Northern kicked off its 115th season of varsity men's basketball and has a record of 1381-1085, a winning percentage of .560.
- Head coach John Tropf Tropf is in his first season at Ohio Northern with a 0-1 record.
Up Next
- The Polar Bears will return to action when they travel to face area-rival Bluffton on Wednesday at 7pm.
