By Tim Glon
ALLIANCE — Junior Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) and sophomore C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) each had double-doubles to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team in a 94-72 loss at Mount Union in a battle of league unbeatens on Saturday afternoon
The Polar Bears fall to 2-1 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Purple Raiders improve to 3-0, 3-0.
Both ONU and MtU were scheduled to play other teams this weekend, but their opponents were forced to cancel their games due to COVID-19 protocol issues, so the two teams agreed to a Saturday afternoon contest on Friday afternoon.
Waugh had his first career double-double with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds and Napier had his third career double-double with 19 points and 10 boards.
Sophomore Michael Berner (Springboro) added 12 points and sophomore Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) scored 11 points.
Collen Gurley led five Purple Raiders in double digits in scoring with 24 points.
Mount Union took control of the game early on, going on a 19-4 run to go up 23-8 in the first 8:06 of the contest.
Northern went on an 8-0 run, keyed by five points from Waugh, to climb within 73-62 with 7:15 left, but MtU answered with an 8-2 run to push the lead to 81-64 with 4:44 remaining.
Ohio Northern made 27-of-71 field goal attempts for 38.0 percent and was 5-of-19 from 3-point range for 26.3 percent, while Mount Union was 37-of-74 from the floor for 50.0 percent and was 13-of-31 from beyond the arc for 41.9 percent.
MtU won the rebounding battle by a slight 44-41 edge.
The Polar Bears will return to action next Friday and Saturday with a home-and-home series with Heidelberg.
