ONU had four players score in double figures. Senior Nate Lieb and sophomore Kyle Gehle each led the team in scoring with 14 points apiece. Junior Bart Hostetler added 12 points and fellow junior Ryan Lee scored 10 points.
Junior Greg Badenhop surpassed the 1,000 point mark, by scoring six points in the contest.
Badenhop connected on layup with 4:21 left in the first half to hit 1,000 points and become the 33rd member of ONU’s 1,000-point club. Badenhop’s layup sparked an 8-0 run and gave ONU the lead for the rest of the game at 22-21.
With the win, the Bears move to 10-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play and 15-4 overall. Muskingum falls to 12-6 overall and 8-4 in OAC play.
Off the Badenhop layup, the Bears were able to push the lead to as many as 31-23 on a pair of Lee free throws with 39 seconds left until intermission.
Muskingum was able to cut the lead on a three-point play by Zack Ross and ONU went into the locker room with a 31-26 lead.
Northern pushed the lead to 47-37 in the second half on a three-pointer by Gehle with 13:00 left in the game. Muskingum answered with a six-point run to cut the lead to 52-49 with 9:23 left in the second half.
The Bears rallied and pushed the lead to 59-49 on a Hostetler layup with 6:55 left in the game.
Muskingum rallied to within 67-64 with 19 seconds left on a Brandon Todd three-pointer, but the Bears held on by hitting three free throws in the final 16 ticks.
“We played hard down the stretch, and gutted out a huge win,” said Ohio Northern head coach Jeff Coleman. “We relied on our athletic and experinced line-up and they pulled through, especially during our defensive effort in the first half.”
Todd led the way for Muskingum, scoring 32 points. Ross and Jeremy Ady each added eight points apiece to pace the Muskies.
The Bears connected on 25-of-51 field goals for 49.0 percent, while Muskingum hit 25-of-54 shots for 46.3 percent.
ONU battled for 33 rebounds, while the Muskies grabbed 28 boards.
The Polar Bears will return to the court as they travel to Mount Union for a 3:00 pm tipoff on Saturday.