Panthers' streak snapped with NYE loss to Ohio Northern

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University men's basketball team found little reason to celebrate on New Year's Eve, seeing its five-game winning streak snapped with an 86-82 loss to visiting Ohio Northern University on Tuesday evening.

Despite shooting nearly 62 percent from the floor (34-for-55) in the game, including 71.4 percent in the first half, Chapman (8-4) trailed for nearly all of the tightly-contested match.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Ohio Northern's Devon Allen midway through the second half gave the Polar Bears the lead for good and turned a 55-54 Chapman lead into an eventual seven-point advantage for Northern.

Chapman responded with six straight points of its own, including two of junior C John Joyce's career-high 20 points, cutting the lead to one at 62-61 with 8:37 left in the game. The Panthers kept it close down the stretch, rallying from another seven-point deficit thanks to buckets from junior guards Taylor Hamasaki and Colin Zavrsnick, but could never tie or regain the lead.

Ohio Northern (6-4) made all of six of its free throws over the final 36 seconds to keep the Panthers at a safe distance and secure the win.

Chapman shot over 71 percent from the floor in the first half, but eight first-half turnovers contributed to Ohio Northern taking 12 more shots than the Panthers and the Polar Bears led 37-34 at halftime.

Polar Bears' G Branden Rushton led all scorers with 31 points, including 18 in the second half. He made five of six from three-point range in the game. Dominque Royal added 12 points and four assists for Ohio Northern, which swept its two-game California holiday swing after a win over Caltech on Sunday.

Besides Joyce who also added six rebounds, Hamasaki and Zavrsnick were both in double figures for Chapman. Two nights after scoring a career-high 31 points against Cornell, Hamasaki went for 27, including a pair of threes. Zavrsnick added 15 points and five boards.

Chapman will return to SCIAC play on Saturday when it travels to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for a 5 p.m. tipoff.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/boxscores/20131231_9lsg.xml

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