COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team closed out its nonconference play with an 88-76 loss to Seton Hill (Pa.) on Saturday evening in Alumni Hall.

Sophomore Chad Nelson (Pickerington, Ohio) led the way for ODU (2-2) with a game and career-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. He added three boards and three assists. Senior Don Kellum (Chicago, Ill.) posted his first double-double of the season with a career high 14 points, and a strong 13 rebounds. Sophomore Mark Minch (West Chester, Ohio) was the only other Panther in double digits with 13 points.

For the game, the Panthers converted 27-of-56 from the field (48.2 percent), and hit 6-of-15 from long range (40 percent).

Seton Hill (4-2) also shot well in the game, shooting 46.4 percent from the floor (32-of-69), while nailing 28.6 of its 3-pointers (6-of-21).

The Griffins converted 24 points off 16 Panther turnovers and outscored ODU 44-36 in the paint. The Panthers did outrebound Seton Hill 40-37.

Seton Hill opened the first half with strong defense, scoring its first seven points on fastbreaks thanks to three forced turnovers by ODU. At the under 15 media timeout, the Griffins would hold a narrow 13-8 advantage.

The Panthers cut the lead to five, 15-10 at the 14:50 mark but Seton Hill used a 14-10 run to take a 29-20 lead by the under-12 media timeout (9:33). ODU got within five once again at the 8:37 mark on back-to-back layups from Kellum.

ODU kept the first half close, reaching within single digits of Seton Hill on several occasions, but trailed 50-41 at the half.

In the opening minutes after the intermission, Minch made a layup to cut the lead down to 52-48 with 17:46 showing on the clock.

The Seton Hill defense kept the pressure on and the Panthers tried to keep the game close, but ultimately, the 12-point deficit would prove too much for ODU to overcome.

Ohio Dominican will start conference play on December 5 as the Panthers make a road trip to Michigan to play Saginaw Valley at 8 p.m. The Panthers then make a trip to Wayne State on Saturday, December 7 for a 3 p.m. game.

Contact: Sarah Twiggs
twiggss@ohiodominican.edu