Box Score COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's men's basketball team fell late to Tiffin by a final score of 77-74 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon in Alumni Hall.
Hasan Varence (Queens, New York) led the way for the Panthers once again with his 10th double-double of the season scoring 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting while grabbing 13 rebounds. Fellow senior Sam Hickey (Toledo, Ohio) came just shy of a double-double scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Freshman Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio) was the final Panther in double-figures scoring 11 points in his first career start.
Senior Michael Scott (Hebron, Ky.) notched his third game this season with a least 10 assists finishing with six points and 10 dimes.
ODU opened the contest leading 10-1 into the under-16 media timeout before Tiffin cut their deficit to six at 20-14 with 8:47 remaining in the first half. The Panthers would then go on a 7-0 run to open a 13-point lead with 6:45 remaining in the half capped by a Varence layup.
ODU would open their largest lead of the half at 37-19 after a pair of Hickey free throws with 2:54 remaining in the half and would take a 39-24 lead into the half.
The Panthers shot 53.6% (15-for-28) in the first half while holding Tiffin to 29.6% (8-for-27) from the floor.
Out of the half, the Panthers extended their lead out to 20 points at 54-34 with 14:46 remaining before Tiffin trimmed the lead to 56-44 with 11:22 remaining. The Panthers would then regain momentum, extending their lead back out to 18 at 68-50 on a Michael Simon (Hilliard, Ohio) layup.
Tiffin would close the final 6:58 outscoring the Panthers 27-6 capped by an Eric Turner three to give Tiffin their first and only lead of the game with 13 seconds to go and a pair of free throws from Austin Schaub.
The Panthers shot 49.1% (28-of-57) from the floor and 35.7% from three (10-for-28) while Tiffin shot 39.1% overall (25-of-64) and was 34.2% (13-for-38) from behind the arc, including 10 threes in the final 20 minutes.
ODU falls to 9-12 overall and an even 6-6 in the conference while Tiffin advances to 8-15 overall and 2-11 in the conference.
The Panthers will return to action Thursday, February 6 inside Alumni Hall when they host Lake Erie with tip set for 5:30 p.m.
