Two nail-biters: ONU women win one - ONU men lose one. Here are the details:
Freshman Brynn Serbin (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) played well past her years late in Ohio Northern's game against Otterbein Wednesday night. She tallied the final five points, as the Polar Bears eeked past the Cardinals 51-50.
The victory improved Northern to 12-4 on the season and 6-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play. The loss dropped Otterbein to 9-7 overall and 4-5 in conference action.
The game was knotted at 39-39 ahead of the fourth quarter. Sophomore Alissa Stahler (Lima/Shawnee) scored a couple baskets and her free throw at the 4:40 mark gave the Polar Bears a 46-45 advantage.
Hailey Bauer put the Cardinals out in front with two free throws before Serbin buried a 3-pointer with 2:46 left that vaulted ONU ahead 49-47. Serbin connected on a couple free throws at the 1:11 mark, making it 51-48.
Jenna Hoschouer earned a bucket with 46 seconds to play to pull Otterbein back to within one. Angelina Jackson had two looks from 3-point land with under 10 seconds to play, but neither found the bottom of the net.
Serbin finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals. Senior Emily Mescher (Maria Stein/Marion Local) paced the Polar Bears with 14 points, while fellow senior Abby Weeks (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) chipped in 10 points.
ONU shot 36.5 percent (19 of 52) from the floor, which included making 23.5 percent (4 of 17) from beyond the 3-point line. Otterbein connected on 39 percent (16 of 41) of its field-goal attempts and 35.3 percent (6 of 17) of it shots from 3-point land.
The Polar Bears won the rebounding battle 29-23 and held a 15-9 advantage on the offensive glass.
Otterbein led 16-15 after one quarter of play before ONU outscored the Cardinals 17-11 in the second period to take a 32-27 halftime lead.
The Polar Bears return home, hosting Capital Saturday at 3 p.m. The Crusaders won the first meeting 53-38, Dec. 14 in Columbus.
Men's game
Ohio Northern battled back from a 12-point second half deficit, but a basket with 12.1 seconds left gave Otterbein an 81-79 Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball victory on Wednesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears fall to 6-10 overall and are 2-7 in the OAC, while the Cardinals improve to 5-11, 2-7.
Freshman Landen Long (Mason) led four Polar Bears in scoring with 22 points.
Freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) added 18 points and eight rebounds, sophomore Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) added 17 points and junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) had 12 points, five rebounds and a career-high 5 blocks for ONU.
Otterbein also had four players in double figures in scoring, led by Mo Beavers with a game-high 23 points.
Trailing 78-77, senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) nailed a pair of free throws with 22 seconds to play to give ONU a 79-78 lead.
Justin Carter answered with a 3-point play with 12.1 seconds left to put Otterbein up 81-79.
Long got a highly contested three-pointer off just ahead of the horn, but it missed and OU held on for the its first win in Ada since 2013.
Beavers made a 3-pointer with 8:26 left in the game to give OU its biggest lead of the night at 63-51.
But the Polar Bears responded with a 3-pointer and three free throws from Long, a 3-pointer from Phillips and a pair of free throws by Napier to post an 11-0 run and pull within 63-62 with 6:14 to go.
The teams traded scores for the next four minutes and a free throw by Long tied the game at 73-all with 2:26 left.
OU scored the next five points to go up 78-73 with 1:47 left, but Waugh scored and Phillips hit two free throws to make it 78-77 with 59 seconds remaining.
The Polar Bear defense forced a turnover with 36 seconds to go, setting up Bryan's free throws with 22 ticks left.
Ohio Northern made 24-of-53 field goal attempts for 45.3 percent and was 10-of-22 from 3-point range for 45.5 percent.
Otterbein hit 26-of-51 shots from the floor for 51.0 percent and made 10-of-21 from beyond the arc for 47.6 percent.
OU out-rebounded ONU 33-22.
Both teams were outstanding from the foul line as Ohio Northern hit 21-of-24 for 87.5 percent and Otterbein hit 19-of-20 for 95.0 percent.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with a 2 pm contest at Capital.
