ADA — Sophomore Jared Horstman and junior Taylor Kuhlman both set career highs in points and rebounds to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 82-71 win over John Carroll Saturday afternoon at the ONU Sports Center.
With the victory, the Polar Bears are now 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the OAC while the Blue Streaks fall to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
Kuhlman finished with 23 points and seven rebounds while Horstman had 19 points and six boards.
It was an extra special day for the Polar Bears, as they honored former head coach Bill Daugherty at halftime for his contributions to the ONU program.
"Today was a very special day for everyone," said head coach John Rhodes. "It was a very humbling experience for me to spend time with Coach Daugherty. As a coach now, I can see how much he has changed the landscape of this program."
The Blue Streaks took control early, using a 9-0 run to build a 17-8 lead. Northern would chip away and trail 39-35 at the half.
John Carroll pushed their lead out to 46-39, but ONU responded with 18-4 run to take a 57-50 lead with just over nine minutes to play.
Horstman led the charge scoring seven points, Kuhlman added five points, and senior Scott Schnelle, Branden Rushton and freshman Adam Bair all scored two during that run.
With 6:32 remaining, Northern took their largest lead of the game at 65-53 on a layup by Horstman.
John Carroll chipped away and cut the lead to 69-63 with 3:51 left, but Northern scored four quick points to push their lead back to 10.
The Blue Streaks would then get a steal and a layup with 53 seconds left to cut the ONU lead to 78-71, but Northern scored the final four points of the game en route to the victory.
"John Carroll is a difficult team to play," Rhodes added. "They play at a frantic pace on both sides of the ball. Our orange team did a great job simulating their style of play in practice all week and it showed as our players were prepared for what was thrown at them."
The Polar Bears held a 39-20 advantage in bench points on the afternoon.
Northern also won the rebounding battle by a slight 39-36 margin.
ONU was 25-of-48 (52.1 percent) from the field and 5-of-10 (50 percent) on 3-pointers while John Carroll was 23-of-66 (34.8 percent) from the field and 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) on 3-point tries.
John Carroll was led by Corey Shontz who scored 14 points while Kyle Hubbard and Mark Hester each added 13.
"I am very proud of how the team responded today, especially after such a tough loss on Wednesday," Rhodes said. "This was a full team victory. Every single player did what the coaches ask and we cannot be more proud of them."
Ohio Northern will be in action again next Saturday when they travel to Marietta to face off against the No. 20 Pioneers at 3 p.m.