MARQUETTE, Mich. – Senior forward Aaron Gibbs (Oberlin, Ohio) scored a season-high 20 points, but Ohio Dominican's men's basketball team dropped its fifth-straight, falling 81-69 to Northern Michigan in GLIAC play Saturday.

With the setback, the Panthers fell to 2-6 overall (0-4 GLIAC), while the Wildcats moved to 4-4 (2-1 GLIAC).

Gibbs knocked down 9-of-18 shots for his seventh career 20-point game and also pulled down six rebounds. Junior guard Morgan Jones (Oberlin, Ohio) scored 15 points and freshman forward Bobby Stauffer (Lexington, Ky.) notched a new season-high with 13 points off the bench.

ODU battled back from a pair of seven-point first half deficits to trim the Wildcat lead to 21-20 after consecutive buckets by Gibbs and a three-point play by Jones. Northern Michigan scored the next seven points, though, and would take a 34-28 lead into the intermission.

The Wildcats took a nine-point lead early in the second half, but the Panthers managed to cut it to 44-40 with 14:03 left after Jones buried a jumper and Gibbs scored on a bucket in the paint on a feed from Stauffer. But NMU went on a quick 6-0 burst, and though the Panthers would come as close as seven on a pair of occasions, ODU would draw no closer.

Northern Michigan finished with a 40-32 advantage on the glass and went 35-of-39 (89.7 percent) from the free throw line. Haki Stampley scored 29 points to lead the Wildcats.

Senior forward Jake Mochoskay (Mansfield, Ohio) had nine points and nine rebounds for the Panthers, who shot 27-of-65 (41.4 percent) from the field and struggled from behind the arc for a second-straight game, going 2-of-16 from three-point range.

The Panthers return to the court at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for a GLIAC South Division game at Wayne State.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu