THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2001

ONU's quick start stops Heidelberg's run in quarterfinals

ADA -- Top-seeded Ohio Northern jumped out quick in the first half and answered a big second half Heidelberg scoring run with one its own Wednesday to pick up a 79-68 Ohio Athletic Conference quarterfinal win.

The Polar Bears (22-2) got a jumper and 3-pointer by Chad Bostelman, a Kris Oberdick foul shot and a 3-pointer from Aaron Fries before The 'Berg could answer with a free throw from Ryan Szepiela at the 15:54 mark of the first half.

Heidelberg would narrow the gap to one point several times and force a 23-23 tie with 4:07 to go in the first half, but ONU outscored The 'Berg 13-4 the rest of the way for a 36-27 lead at the break.

The Polar Bears pushed that lead to 16 points (54-38) with 11:25 to play before Heidelberg strung together a 20-9 run to trim the deficit to 63-60 with 5:12 to play.

A Lucas Messer layup for The 'Berg at the 3:34 mark kept it a three-point game (67-64), but ONU went 10 for 10 at the foul line and got a dunk to outscore Heidelberg 12-4 from there for the win.

The foul line and 3-pointers were the key for the Polar Bears. They were 31 of 39 from the line and hit eight of their 21 trey attempts. Heidelberg was 23 of 31 from the foul line but connected on just one of its seven 3-point shots.

Oberdick popped in 18 points for ONU, Bostelman had 17, Conrad added 15 and Mike Heitkamp and Fries each ended with 10. Heitkamp also snared a game-high 11 rebounds.

Heidelberg (9-17) was topped by 14-point games from Ryan Klebowski and Ryan Niemic. Messer added 10 points and seven rebounds.