Junior Branden Rushton scored with two seconds left in overtime to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 76-74 victory over Hood (Md.) in the 2012-13 season opener Saturday evening.
The Polar Bears (1-0 overall) advance to the finals of the Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) Classic on Sunday at 3 pm and will play either Washington & Jefferson or Penn State-Beaver.
Rushton led four ONU players in double figures in scoring with 21 points.
Junior Dominique Royal scored 16 points, junior Jared Horstman added 13 points and sophomore Lucan Pennington chipped in 10 points.
The victory was the first for ONU's first-year head coach Kevin Byrne.
Senior Alison Steinbrunner finished as national runner-up and senior Lydia Weaver posted a top-100 finish for Ohio Northern at the 2012 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships Saturday afternoon at the LaVerne Gibson Cross Country Course.
Steinbrunner's second place finish in 21:09 is the highest finish ever by an Ohio Athletic Conference runner and makes her a three-time All-American.
Weaver finished 95th out of 277 runners in 22:44.
"Both ladies ran great," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. " Alison was strong throughout the race and did a nice job of staying with the lead group. Lydia got out to a terrific start and had a solid race."
Senior Drew Keriazes and junior John Beaschler each won twice and the Ohio Northern men's swimming and diving team remained undefeated with a 190-108 victory over Wittenberg Friday night at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 4-0 on the season, while the Tigers fall to 4-2.
Keriazes swept the breaststroke events, winning the 100 breast in :58.91 and the 200 breast in 2:10.79.
Beaschler swept the sprint freestyle events, winning the 50 free in :22.16 and the 100 free in :48.39.
The Polar Bears won nine of the 16 events overall but used its advantage in depth to register the 82-point victory.
Senior Joanna Snyder scored a career high 23 points as the Ohio Northern women's basketball team opened their 2012-13 season with a dominating 67-48 victory over Lake Forest (Ill.) at the McWillimas Classic hosted by Washington University (Mo.).
ONU now stands at 1-0 on the season, while the Foresters fall to 0-1.
Northern advances to the championship game, which will be played tomorrow at 7 pm CST against either No. 9 Washington Universtiy (Mo.) or Buena Vista (Ia.).
Snyder scored her 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting. She also grabbed four rebounds.
Senior Morgan Dumbaugh added 12 points and freshman Brooke Espenschied added 10 points.
Faced with bad weather and a large point deficit to overcome late in the game, Ada fought a stiff battle against the St. Henry Redskins of the Midwest Athletic Conference, but came up just short of victory with a final score of 40-35 last Friday night at Lima Stadium.
CHECK OUT THE GAME PHOTOS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY.
Senior Alison Steinbrunner has been named USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Athlete of the Year in voting conducted by Division III coaches.
On Saturday, she won the she won the Great Lakes Regional Women's Cross Country Championships in 21:00.
Steinbrunner's time broke her own school record and was 37 seconds faster than any other runner in the field.
The No. 30 Polar Bears finished seventh out of 33 teams with 247 points.
Stenibrunner also won the OAC Championship y 41 seconds and claimed the UW-Oshkosh Brook's Invite title as well.
