Jim Conrad scores career high of 35 as ONU men beat Heidelberg 86-62 on Senior Night
ADA — Jim Conrad scored a career- high 35 points as Ohio Northern concluded a perfect 10-0 regular season at home with an 86-62 win over Heidelberg in Ohio Athletic Conference men’s basketball action Wednesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.
With the win, the Polar Bears improve to 18-6 overall, 12-5 in the OAC, while the Student Princes fall to 4-20 overall, 2-15 in the OAC.
ONU clinched a first round bye in the OAC tournament with the win tonight, and will host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday at 7:30. The semi-finals and finals will be Friday and Saturday at the highest seeded quarterfinal winner.
Northern wasted no time getting going, as it scored the first 13 points of the game, led by three long range bombs from Conrad.
An 8-0 run by HC, culminating with a lay-up Kenny Gilbert with 14:41 left in the first half, brought the Student Princes to within 13-8, but ONU opened the lead up to 35-18 with 4:32 to go in the half, on a field goal by Conrad.
After Northern took a 43-22 half-time lead, Heidelberg came out on fire in the second half, cutting the lead to 51-37 with 16:00 to go in the game, on a jumper by Gilbert.
HC continued its strong second half play, getting as close as 64-53 with 9:59 to go on a jumper by Lucas Messer.
The Polar Bears were able to right the ship, however, putting the game away with a 20-5 run, culminating with a dunk by Billy Barkimer with 2:03 remaining.
“We made a good run to start the game,” Ohio Northern head coach Joe Campoli said. “Our kids played pretty well, but give Heidelberg credit, they didn’t quit.”
ONU recorded its second undefeated home regular season since the opening of the ONU Sports Center in 1974, and its first since a 12-0 record during the 1979-80 regular season. ONU finished 13-0 at home that season.
Heidelberg shot 39 percent in the first half, and a blistering 60 percent in the second half, for 24-of-48 (50 percent) for the game.
Ohio Northern hit 58 percent of its field goals in the first half, and 56 percent in the second half, for 36-of-63 (57 percent) for the game.
Besides his career high of 35 points on 15-20 shooting, Conrad also grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists. Chad Bostelman had 13 points for the Polar Bears, while Barkimer and Sam Mikolajewski added 11 points each.
Heidelberg was led by Gilbert with 22 points, while Messer added 18 points.
ONU returns to action on Saturday, as it concludes the regular season with a 3 pm game at Capital.
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