TIFFIN, Ohio — Ohio Dominican's men's basketball team fell in a hard-fought, 71-67 contest to Tiffin in the 2017-18 season opener on Friday night at Gillmor Student Center at Tiffin University.

The game was part of the GLIAC/G-MAC Challenge and marked the third meeting in the last two seasons between Ohio Dominican and Tiffin.

ODU (0-1, 0-0 G-MAC) outrebounded the Dragons 36-32 and notched 15 assists on 26 made field goals. Tiffin forced 22 Panther turnovers while committing 18.

Junior Ben Casanova (Sylvania, Ohio) scored a career-high 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and pulled down six rebounds. Senior guard Ronnie Williams (Columbus, Ohio) pitched in 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting and is just 34 points away from 1,000 for his career. Senior Shemar Waugh (Columbus, Ohio) tallied 12 points and seven assists, while sophomore guard Ryan Hoyng (Celina, Ohio) finished with 11 points off the bench and went 3-of-3 from three-point range for ODU.

The Panthers led 15-13 with 6:23 remaining in the first half and a free throw by Williams began what would become a 13-5 run for ODU. A layup by sophomore Sam Hickey (Toledo, Ohio) capped off the run and gave the Panthers a 28-18 lead with 1:50 to go before halftime.

Trailing 30-23 with time expiring in the half, Tiffin's Austin Adams banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Dragons' deficit to just 30-26 going into the locker room.

After an even second half between the two teams, Tiffin gained a 67-62 lead with 2:34 to go, but a jump shot by Hoyng with 2:19 remaining and a three-pointer by Williams at the 1:33 mark tied the game at 67-67.

But Tiffin scored the final four points of the contest and ODU missed two go-ahead three-pointers in the final minute, falling 71-67.

Ohio Dominican will host Ashland Sunday in the home opener at Alumni Hall at 2 p.m.

Contact: Aaron McPherson
mcphersa@ohiodominican.edu