COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican Panthers men's basketball team hosted the Storm of Lake Erie College on Thursday (Jan. 18) night at Alumni Hall. 

Preceding a winter storm that would be nearing Ohio on Friday, Ohio Dominican fell 92-78 to Lake Erie. 
 
BOX SCORE NOTES

• Luke Ruth (Grove City, Ohio) upped his January average with a career-night for the freshman. Ruth finished with 31 points on the night on 12-of-21 shooting overall. He also converted seven of his 12 free throw attempts to go along with six rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals. 
  • Ruth becomes the third different Panther to score 30 points in a game this season and now Ohio Dominican is one of two teams in the G-MAC with three different players to have at least 30 points. 
  • He is one of 16 Panthers to reach 30 points scored in the Division II era. Ruth now ranks tied for fifth in steals and sixth in the Division II era with 12 field goals in a single game. 
  • Ruth is on an 11-game streak of at least ten points scored. 
• Sean McKitrick (Dayton, Ohio) continued his streak of double-digit scoring games (also at 11 games now) with 16 points scored. He made seven field goals for the contest with four rebounds and three assists. 
• Parker Swartz (Grand Rapids, Michigan) had his own career night with 17 points on seven field goals (out of 12 attempts), including three three pointers. 11 of his points came in the second half. 
• Nate Webb (Lafayette, Indiana) knocked down two threes for eight points scored in addition to three assists, two steals and one block. 
• Christian Lee (Birmingham, Alabama) came off the bench with six points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. 
• Ohio Dominican shot 51.6% (32-62) overall in the game, 27.8% (5-18) from deep and 64.3% (9-14) at the free throw line. 
  • The Panthers outshot the Storm as Lake Erie made 50% of their shots in the game. 
  • 51.6% was the second highest mark for the Panthers this season.
  • ODU shot 53.3% (16-30) in the first half and followed with 50% (16-32) in the second half.  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Both teams opened the game with answering each other's baskets for the first three minutes, going back-and-forth.  
• Ruth gave the Panthers an 8-7 lead with 14:55 left on a layup. Lake Erie scored five straight points to regain a 12-8 lead with 11:50 on the clock.
• Ohio Dominican went on an 8-0 run with a pair of three pointers from Swartz and a layup from Lee. The Panthers held a 16-12 lead at the halfway point of the first half.
• The Black and Gold pushed the lead to five points twice with a pair of free throws and jumper by Ruth.
• After ODU led 26-22, Lake Erie went on a 9-0 run for a 31-26 lead with 3:49 left in the half. Five straight Panther points by Webb and Ruth tied the game at 31.
• The Storm expanded the lead to four points twice at the end of the half. Webb drilled a buzzer beater three pointer to have ODU trail 41-40 at halftime.
• Thursday's first half saw seven lead changes and four ties.
• Lake Erie scored first in the second half but Ruth quickly tied the game at 43 with three straight points. Just a few seconds later, McKitrick followed with a layup that answered Lake Erie's quick answer that changed a 45-43 LEC lead to a 45-45 tie.
• The Storm pushed out to as many as a six-point lead (59-53) with under 14 minutes left but the Panthers continued to chip away and get within one point a few different times. Swartz got the Panthers to 69-68 as the clock went under nine minutes left in regulation.
• Lake Erie followed with an 11-0 run that got the lead to double-digits and the Storm finished the game with a 92-78 win.

UP NEXT

• Ohio Dominican will travel to the Great Lake State of Michigan for a match-up with the Northwood Timberwolves on Saturday (Jan. 20) at 3:00 PM.