Higgins And The Berg Top Visiting Mount Union

Senior center Ron Higgins (Vermilion, Ohio / Firelands) tied a career-high of 24 points a grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to lead the Heidelberg College men's basketball team to a 75-62 Ohio Athletic Conference victory over visiting Mount Union College in Seiberling Gymnasium on the campus of Heidelberg. The win snaps a two-game slide for the Berg who improves to 12-7 overall and 8-4 in league action, while the Purple Raiders fall to 8-11 overall and 3-9 in the OAC.

Heidelberg entered the day in a four-way tie for second place in the league standings, but a Capital win over John Carroll helped to push the Berg back in tie for the top-spot. The Berg currently sits atop the league standings with Capital, John Carroll and Ohio Northern.

Higgins recorded 10 of his game-high 24 points from a 10-for-10 showing at the charity stripe. Backing Higgins was Andrew Lemmon (Port Clinton, Ohio / Port Clinton) and Chad Szalay (Lorain, Ohio / Clearview) with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Shawn Shriver (Bellevue, Ohio / Western Reserve) rounded out four in double figures with 10 points. Lemmon also recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Stu Anglum led the way for Mount Union with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Chris Switzer chipped in 13 points.

Greg Tyson, Jr. (Lima, Ohio / Lima Senior) connected with Josh Calver (Shelby, Ohio / Shelby) for a three-pointer with 13:02 to play in the opening half to put the Berg on top 14-13. The Berg increased its first half lead to seven, 21-14, following a Matt Eberle (Grove City, Ohio / Central Crossing) three, but Mount Union outscored the Berg 10-6 over the final 5:56 of the first half to cut Heidelberg’s advantage to 27-26 at the intermission.

In the second half Mount Union broke a 42-42 tie with three free throws from Switzer to take a 44-42 lead with 13:31 to play in the game, but Heidelberg's Shriver swung the momentum and the lead in favor of the Berg with six points, including a three-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play. Shriver capped off the final lead change of the game with an assist to Lemmon on a trey to put the Berg in control of the scoreboard, 54-47 with 11:02 left on the clock.

Mount Union pulled to within two points, 60-56, but Heidelberg's Szalay responded with his own three-point play to push the Berg advantage back to four and that would be as close as the Purple Raiders would get.

Heidelberg, under the guidance of Duane Sheldon, concludes its regular season with four of its last six contests on the road, beginning at Baldwin-Wallace Jan. 31. Also on the end of the season road slate for the Berg is trips to John Carroll and Capital.