MIDLAND, Mich. - With the final road swing underway for the last week of the regular season, the Ohio Dominican Panthers (5-20, 2-16) men's basketball team faced the Northwood Timberwolves (7-20, 4-15) for the second time in nine days on Monday (Feb. 26) night. 

Ohio Dominican broke a seven-game slide and picked up an 81-73 win over the Timberwolves at Riepma Arena. 

BOX SCORE NOTES

• Luke Ruth (Grove City, Ohio) nearly surpassed his career-high with 30 points scored in the contest. While scoring a game-high in points, Ruth was ten-of-23 from the floor with two three pointers and an eight-of-ten free throw clip. He grabbed six rebounds, dished out five assists and came away with three steals. 
  • He led the Panthers in scoring for the tenth time and reached double-figures for the 20th time. 
• Sean McKitrick (Dayton, Ohio) finished with his seventh game of at least 20 points with 20 points scored on Monday night. The freshman was 50% from the field (7-14) with four three pointers. He had a team-high eight rebounds. 
• Parker Swartz (Grand Rapids, Michigan) made six-of-ten field goals with three triples for 15 points. Swartz was one of three Panthers with six rebounds pulled down. 
• Nate Webb (Lafayette, Indiana) scored nine points with five rebounds and two assists. 
• Lachlan MacDonald (Dublin, Ohio) reached five assists for the third time this season, scoring four points and getting six rebounds. MacDonald had the only block for ODU in the contest. 
• Eli Meyer (Seymour, Indiana) converted a three point play on the floor for his three points and added two steals. 
• Ohio Dominican shot 48.4% in the game, outshooting the Timbies at 40.7% overall. The Panthers ended going 30-of-62 on field goals, with 10-of-21 from three for 47.6% on the night. 
• Monday was the sixth time that ODU made at least ten three pointers. 
• Northwood shot 25% (4-16) from deep, the fifth time this season that a team has shot 25% or below. 
• The Panthers won the rebounding category 38-35, scored 23 points of 13 Northwood turnovers (season-high) and had 18 second chance points. 
• The win on Monday was the first road win for the Panthers since a February 23, 2023 win inside of Riepma Arena, breaking a ten-game road losing streak. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Northwood started the game with a 10-3 run over four minutes of game play. McKitrick scored the first 12 points of the game as he led the Panthers back to a 13-12 deficit two minutes later. 
• Webb and Ruth gave ODU a short lead over a course of back-and-forth lead changes until Northwood established two leads of four point advantages with under eight minutes to go. 
• The Timberwolves led 30-29 with 6:18 left before Ohio Dominican ended the half on a 20-8 run as they led 49-38 at halftime. Swartz hit the basket that put ODU in front for good, a layup with 6:10 to go. 
• The 20-8 rally continued into the second half as ODU scored 14 of the first 18 points to push the lead to 21 points, 63-42 with 14:42 left. Over nearly 11 minutes of game action, Ohio Dominican outscored 34-12 to control the momentum at that point. 
• Northwood flipped the script with an 11-0 run to get within ten points (63-53) with 11:45 left. 
• ODU rebounded and got the lead twice to as many as 16 points outside of six minutes to go. 
• One final run by Northwood got the game to single digits but ODU retained late control with a pair of Ruth free throws and a MacDonald steal. Ohio Dominican won 81-73 on the road. 

UP NEXT

• Ohio Dominican travels to Kentucky Wesleyan to take on the G-MAC leader on Thursday (Feb. 29) at the Owensboro Sportscenter. Tipoff from Owensboro comes at 8:45 PM Eastern.