COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team received a career-high 22 points from freshman Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) and held off a late Tiffin charge Saturday afternoon, winning 72-62.

RECORDS

• With the win, the Panthers improve to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in Great Midwest play. Ohio Dominican has won three of its four games played in January.
• Tiffin falls to 3-6 overall and in conference action. The Dragons' loss is their sixth in the past seven outings.

INDIVIDUAL NUMBERS

• Szul scored 13 of his career high point total in the second half. The freshman was 7-for-8 from the field and made all seven of his attempts at the charity stripe. Szul dished out five assists, all in the first half, while also adding four rebounds and two steals.
• Recording 20-plus points for the second consecutive game was sophomore Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio). Marks scored 20 points, and added six assists and five rebounds. The guard now has five-plus helpers in five straight games.
• Redshirt sophomore Ethan Haynes (Flornce, Ky.) pitched in 14 points, making 5-of-8 field goal attempts. Haynes was 4-for-6 from behind the arc and made 3-of-4 attempts from deep in the first half. He also registered two blocks, giving him six rejections in the past five games.
• Playing a career high 24 minutes was sophomore Matt Hall (Evanston, Ill.). With the extended run, Hall tallied a personal-best seven points and two assists to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After ODU conceded the first five points of the game, Marks scored seven of the Panthers' first 10 points to help them capture the lead, 10-7, just over four minutes in.
• Ohio Dominican never trailed for the remainder of the contest, holding the lead for 36 minutes of play.
• With the score tied at 13-all, the Panthers used a 12-2 run to gain its first double digit advantage of the night, 25-15, with 9:12 left in the first half.
• ODU made five of its last seven field goals in the first half, while holding Tiffin to one for its last 10 shots to take a 38-22 lead into the break. The Panthers shot making ability led to a 13-3 half-ending spurt.
• Hall scored the opening bucket of the second half at 19:03, giving ODU its largest lead of the game, 18 points, at 40-22.
• Tiffin responded with eight points in a 1:18 stretch, and another 8-0 run following a pair of Marks free throws closed the gap to 42-38 with 13:56 to play.
• Despite a 6-0 scoring run by Szul that gave the Panthers a double-digit lead once again, the Dragons fought back and tied the game at 55-55 on an alley-oop dunk with 6:20 to play.
• Ohio Dominican responded with two quick baskets, both from Marks, to recapture the lead at 59-55. Triples from Haynes and Szul followed and helped ODU extend its advantage to double digits with less than one minute to play.

GAME NOTES

• ODU shot 59.3 percent in the first half (16-27) and finished the contest with a season-best field goal percentage, .521 (25-48).
• After shooting below 33 percent in the first stanza, Tiffin shot 54 percent in the second half, finishing the game 23-54 (.426) from the field.
• ODU enjoyed a 34-25 edge on the glass. Seven of the eight Panthers that played recorded three or more rebounds.
• The Panthers' 38-point first half was its highest scoring performance over the opening 20 minutes of a game this season.

UP NEXT

• Ohio Dominican will hit the road next week for two games against top 20 nationally ranked opponents.
• The Panthers open the stretch at No. 9 Findlay, with tip-off slated for 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu