With the loss, No. 22 ranked the Polar Bears fall to 3-2 in OAC play and 8-3 overall. Wilmington pushes their OAC record to 4-1, 11-1 overall.
Ohio Northern was paced by junior Bart Hostetler who scored 14 points, pulled down seven rebounds and recorded three steals.
Sophomore Kyle Gehle also dropped in 12 points for ONU.
Wilmington was led by Eric Stirling and Zach Broermann, who each scored 19 points.
Trailing 47-35, Northern battled back on a 8-0 run, with Gehle providing a spark on a key three-pointer to pull within 47-43 with 10:16 left in the game.
Senior Nate Lieb and Hostetler pushed the Bears to within 51-50, on a three-pointer and layup, respectively.
The Polar Bears were able to tie the game at 54, with a Hostetler layup with 3:57 left in the game.
Wilmington used a clutch three-pointer by Broermann to push the lead back to 59-54.
Junior Greg Badenhop hit two free-throws and the Bears found themselves down 61-59 with 30 seconds left, but Wilmington rattled off four straight points to end the game.
In the first-half, Wilmington used a stiffling defense that allowed the Quakers to push their lead to 34-19, with 2:52 left, on a Broermann layup.
Lieb kept the Bears within reach, on a tip-in as time expired and to pull with in 36-27 at intermission.
“Wilmington came to our court and played tough, but we were able to come back and battle hard in the second half,” said ONU head Jeff Coleman. “Our guys were able to hang in there, but we have a long season ahead of us.”
The Bears held the rebound advantage over the Quakers, 38 to 25.
ONU shot 36.2 percent in the game, on 21-of-58 field goals, while Wilmington hit 25-of-46 shots for 54.3 percent.
The Polar Bears return to the court Saturday afternoon as they host Capital in a 3 pm tip-off at the ONU Sports Center.