Racers Hold off Cougars 74-63

LIMA, OH - UNOH men's basketball kept first-year program Cleary out of the win column with a 74-63 home victory.

The Racers jumped out to an 18-9 lead thanks to a 12-2 run with just over ten minutes remaining in the first half. The Cougars answered with their own 13-2 stretch to take the lead back 22-20. The back-and-forth affair continued with another big 12-1 streak from UNOH that put them up nine with two minutes to play. Five minutes into the second half, Cleary cut the lead to four, but that was as close as they would get as UNOH pulled away and maintained a double-digit lead until the final buzzer.

Ryan Archey led the game with 22 points off the bench. Archey shot 8-12 (67%) from the field and 4-6 from outside while grabbing five rebounds with three steals and an assist. Jayden Priddy-Powell added 14 points despite shooting 2-10 from the field. Priddy-Powell did most of his work from the charity stripe hitting ten of eleven attempts while grabbing seven steals, tied for the second most in program history and the program's most since 2015 (Lawrence Jackson - 7). Cedric Delancy, Jr., Marquis Freeman and Aden Brown all tied for the team lead with six rebounds each on the night.

"I'm really proud of our guys tonight," said head coach Richard Westerlund following the game. "Our second unit did a great job bringing energy tonight and I'm particularly proud of how [Aden Brown] and [Marquis Freeman] attacked the glass."

UNOH won the rebound battle for just the second time this season out-boarding Cleary 41-34 but lost the turnover battle 20-17 despite a season high 13 steals.

"I felt our pressure was really good and we continue to make strides in that area," continued Westerlund. "We, as a team, have to do a better job though of taking care of the ball. Twenty turnovers is unacceptable. We have to value the ball a lot more."

The Racers have another week off before they end the 2023 slate of conference games at (RV) Madonna on Saturday, December 16 at 3:00 PM.