No. 13 ONU COMES UP SHORT IN BATTLE OF CCAC LEADERS

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The No. 13 Olivet Nazarene University men's basketball team saw its six-game winning streak come to a close with an 81-78 loss against Roosevelt Saturday night in McHie Arena.

In a battle of conference leaders, the Tigers took a first-half lead but let it slip away in the second period. And the Lakers (10-1, 4-0 CCAC) broke things open with a late run as they caught fire from beyond the arc.

ONU built their early lead behind Sam Emich, who filled 15 points in the first half on 4-of-8 shooting and two 3's. He also hit five of his free throws and snagged four rebounds over the opening period in leading the Tigers to a four-point lead at the break.

The Tigers also excelled on defense over the first 20 minutes, limiting the Lakers to less than 40-percent shooting from the floor and only two triples. ONU held Roosevelt to only 29 points in the first half, their least in a half so far this season.

But the Lakers found their rhythm in the second half. After quickly erasing ONU's four-point lead, Roosevelt claimed the lead when Maurice Commander, the defending CCAC Player of the Week, knocked down back-to-back triples five minutes into the half.

Griffin Andricks drove for a layup to cut the deficit to three at the midway point of the second half, but Roosevelt connected on three-straight triples to build a double-digit lead with 6:41 remaining.

Trailing 72-64 with three minutes to play, Tyler Schmidt and Caleb Swearingen combined for an 8-2 run to make it a one-score game with 27 seconds left. Commander hit two free throws to make it a two-possession game, but Swearingen buried a three with 11 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one point. But Roosevelt would hit six of their last seven free throws to keep the Tigers out of reach.

Despite the Tigers shooting 55-percent from the floor and hitting two 3's in the second period, Roosevelt went 9-of-16 from deep and hit 11 free throws to earn the win.

Schmidt led all scorers with 26, scoring 21 of those points in the second half. He also brought down seven boards and handed out six assists. Emich finished with 18, Swearingen had 14, and Andricks recorded 10. Andricks also led the team on the glass with nine boards.

ONU will now go wheels up to take part in the Big Island Classic in Hilo, Hawaii. They will open the Tournament against Concordia (Neb.) on Dec. 18.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu