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Kenyon College Athletics

Moss_Connor_7MBK24
Sejin Kim
83
Kenyon Kenyon 0-5,0-0 NCAC
88
Winner Ohio Northern ONU 2-1,0-0 OAC
Kenyon Kenyon
0-5,0-0 NCAC
83
Final
88
Ohio Northern ONU
2-1,0-0 OAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Kenyon Kenyon 37 46 83
Ohio Northern ONU 37 51 88

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Owls fall to pesky Polar Bears on the road


ADA, Ohio – The Kenyon College Owls men's basketball team (0-5) traveled to Northwest Ohio on Saturday afternoon to faceoff against the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears (2-2) as the Owls were on the hunt for its first win of the 2023 season. 

Despite taking an 11 point lead to open up the second half, the Polar Bears battled back to top the Owls 88-83 for the team's fifth loss of the season. 

In the early stages of the game, junior forward Gefen Bar-Cohen had an excellent start for the Owls offense, scoring 11 out of the team's first 20 points while going 5-6 from the field, hauling in one rebound, and capitalizing on an and-one opportunity as Kenyon led 20-19 at the halfway point in the first half.   

However, on the other end of the court, Polar Bears sophomore guard Will Miller was having an impressive individual stat line of his own, scoring 13 points on 4-7 shooting, grabbing two rebounds and dishing out two assists to push the Polar Bears ahead 28-24 with 5:29 left in the first frame. 

Bar-Cohen would end the first half with 16 points, but a solid run from Peter Haas down the stretch gave the Owls some life, as Haas got to the charity stripe for one point and on the next possession hit a spot-up three from the top of the arc to diversify the offense as the first half came to a close tied at 37 after a buzzer-beater three from the Polar Bears. 

In the first, the Owls shot 15-22 (68.2%) from the field and 3-5 (60%) from three. The Owls got to the line for eight shots, but could only capitalize on four of them. Kenyon commanded the paint in the half, scoring 24 points to Ohio Northern's 16, but lost the turnover margin 8-5. 

Kenyon charged out of the intermission, going on a 11-0 run to start the second. A Nick Nelson layup assisted by Bar-Cohen on the first possession after the break sparked the Kenyon offense, as Murathan Kocaman and Connor Moss had back to back layups to follow suit. On the next possession, Dylan Fuerst drove on a fast-break for an easy score, and Nelson buried a three after that to give the Owls the largest lead of the game. 

As the half surpassed the ten-minute mark, the Polar Bears did not go down easy, cutting the deficit to five. Kenyon responded with a  wide open Moss three and a nice jumper from the elbow off of a Kocaman screen kept the Owls ahead with nine minutes to play. 

In the following minutes, Ohio Northern was able to pull ahead after a 10-3 run to go ahead 68-67 with six minutes to play. 

Down the stretch, the Polar Bears matched the Owls basket for basket and clamped down on defense to protect a six point lead while capitalizing on its free throw opportunities when Kenyon played the foul game to end the contest 88-83. 

Bar-Cohen led the Owls on the day with 21 points, while Nelson had a season-high 16-point effort, followed by a career high 14 for Moss. Haas finished with nine points, and Fuerst, Kocaman, and Anthony Testa each had six. 

Kenyon will continue its quest for the first win of the season on Sunday, November 26th to take on the Otterbein University Cardinals at Tomsich Arena for a 2:00 pm afternoon matchup.
 
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