COLUMBUS , Ohio – The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team's late second half run came up short on Tuesday in a conference showdown with the Racers of the University of Northwestern Ohio . ODU had a chance to win the AMC game with five seconds to play, but came up short, 62-61. The loss is the second of the season to the Racers and drops the Panthers record to 12-13 overall and 5-5 in the American Mideast Conference.
ODU opened the conference showdown scoring the games first five points, but quickly lost the momentum as the Racers took their first lead, 13-12, at the 9:44 mark of the first half. After a see saw battle over the next five minutes, the Racers used a 15-3 run to extend the lead to 34-23 and headed to the locker room with a nine point advantage.
The Panthers came out strong in the opening minutes of the second half as they quickly cut the lead to three points on a jumper from senior center Shawn Steward (Reynoldsburg, OH). Northwestern Ohio rebounded in the next seven minutes to take their largest lead of the game as they extended the Panthers deficit to 10 points mid-way through the second stanza. Ohio Dominican turned to senior Bryan West (Coshocton, OH; pictured) to lead them back and West would respond as he scored 12 of his team high 15 points in the second half.
The Panthers fueled a 13-3 run through their big man down low and tied the game at 54 with 6:33 to play in the game. Ohio Dominican finally regained the lead as they took a one point advantage with 4:31 left in the game at 57-56. The two teams would trade baskets for the next three minutes and with under a minute to play set-up the thrilling ending to a tough conference showdown.
Trailing by one, the Panthers were forced to foul and after the Racers missed the front end of a one and one grabbed a huge offensive rebound. ODU again fouled only to see the same result and with five second to play couldn't convert as time ran out.
Leading the way for the Panthers was West with 15 points and eight rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were Donald Suel (Columbus, OH) with 11 points and Sonny Stattmiller (Columbus, OH) who finished with 10 points.
UNOH was led by Jason Sarno with a game high 23 points. Josh Vorst chipped in with 13 for the Racers.
Ohio Dominican will return to action this Saturday, February 7th as they travel to Canton , Ohio to face Walsh University in a conference doubleheader. Tip-off for the women's game is set for 2 p.m. , followed by the men at 4 p.m.
