By Tim Glon
ADA — Senior Isaiah Roux scored a team-high 16 points to lead Ohio Northern to a 59-57 men's basketball victory over area-rival Defiance Tuesday night at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears remain undefeated on the season at 4-0, while the Yellow Jackets fall to 2-1.
Roux made a pair of free throws to put ONU up 57-48 with 5:21 left in the game.
But DC rallied to score eight consecutive points and pulled within 57-56 on a jumper by Bernard Edwards with 47 seconds to play.
Sophomore Konnor Baker scored on a driving layup with 15 seconds left to put ONU ahead 59-56.
Kent Tietje answered for Defiance as he made one of two free throws with 7.5 seconds to play to pull within 59-57.
Ohio Northern missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 5.0 seconds left, but a desperation half-court shot by Edwards at the horn was wide of the mark and the Polar Bears held on for the win.
ONU made good on 22-of-57 field goal attempts for 38.6 percent, while DC made 18-of-49 field goals for 36.7 percent.
Defiance out-rebounded Ohio Northern 44-29, but ONU forced 13 DC turnovers while committing only six itself.
The Yellow Jackets got off to a quick start and led 12-2 just five minutes into the game.
It was all Polar Bears for the next 13 minutes though, as a 33-12 run put the hosts up 35-24 with 1:42 before intermission.
DC scored the final two points of the first half, then the first seven points of the second half to pull within 35-33 with 17:32 left in the game.
But ONU would push the lead back to 57-48 at the 5:21 mark, setting up the thrilling finish.
The Polar Bears will open the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of their schedule on Dec. 3 when they host Otterbein at 7:30 pm at the ONU Sports Center.