No. 3 Ohio Northern Pulls Off 75-70 Win At The Berg

The Heidelberg College men's basketball team fell to No. 3 Ohio Northern University 75-70 tonight in Ohio Athletic Conference action. The win improves Ohio Northern to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the OAC, while the Berg falls to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the OAC.

Heidelberg utilized a 17-8 run midway through the first half to overcome an early 17-8 deficit. A jumper in the paint by Greg Tyson (Lima, Ohio / Lima Senior) gave the Berg its first lead of the contest, 21-19, with 4:32 remaining in the first half. The Berg and Ohio Northern traded the lead on five occasions, with two ties, before heading into the locker room. With the score knotted at 28-28, ONU’s Bart Hostetler recorded a three-point play to give the Polar Bears a 31-28 lead at the break.

Ohio Northern extended its lead to 11 points following a lay up by Jake Cannan with 7:02 left on the clock. Heidelberg would pull within one, 61-60, behind nine points from Chad Szalay (Lorain, Ohio / Clearview) with just under three minutes left in the game, but that would be as close as the Berg would get. The Polar Bears outscored Heidelberg 14-10 over the final 2:05 to pull out the OAC victory.

Leading the way for the Berg was Szalay with 20 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Brian Schmidt (Hinckley, Ohio / Brunswick) followed with 12 points, while Shawn Shriver (Bellevue, Ohio / Western Reserve) and Andrew Lemmon (Port Clinton, Ohio / Port Clinton) rounded out four in double figures with 11 points apiece. Leading the way on the glass was Schmidt and Ron Higgins (Vermilion, Ohio / Firelands) with eight boards each.

Heidelberg returns to action at Mount Union December 9 at 7:00 p.m.