Box Score
Ohio Wesleyan 88, Hanover 79

Junior wing Nick Felhaber (Holland/Toledo St. John's) hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 20-3 first-half run that put Ohio Wesleyan ahead to stay, and the Bishops withstood a furious Hanover comeback to hand the Panthers their first loss of the season on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

Hanover had taken a 14-12 lead on Evan Bingham's lay-in with 13:03 left in the first half.

Ohio Wesleyan evened the game on a jumper from the lane by sophomore post Claude Gray (Avon), then freshman guard Seth Clark (Lewis Center/Olentangy) knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Bishops up for good.  Senior wing Dre White (Lima/Bath) followed with a steal and lay-in, and Felhaber hit a 3-pointer for a 22-14 lead just past the midway point of the period.

Panther guard Trent Crabtree sank a 3-pointer to end the 10-0 Bishop microburst, but a 3-pointer from senior post Reuel Rogers (Columbus/Bexley) and a tip-in from freshman guard Ben Simpson (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) pushed the lead back into double digits.  Felhaber followed with another 3-pointer and Simpson added a lay-in to give Ohio Wesleyan a 32-17 edge with 6:13 to go.

Hanover closed to within 36-28 after a pair of lay-ins from Tim Bass and another by Kyle James, but the Bishops answered with a 10-2 spurt capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by senior guard Taylor Rieger (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange), extending the lead to 46-30.

Ohio Wesleyan would lead by as many as 25 points, taking a 69-44 lead with the help of a pair of Gray 3-pointers and a Rogers lay-in, and the Bishops still led, 77-54, after a Rieger 3-pointer with 8:33 to play.

The Panthers came back behind the playmaking of Bass, who found Evan Bingham for a lay-in that started the Hanover comeback, then drained a pair of 3-pointers.  Another Bass lay-in brought the visitors within 10 points at 79-69 with 3:05 remaining in regulation time, and a pair of V.J. Phillips free throws brought Hanover within 79-71 with less than 2 minutes to play.

Rieger, fouled on a 3-point shot with 1:42 to go, sank all 3 free throws to end Hanover's 17-2 run, but Kyle James contributed a steal and lay-in before Bass set up Jacob Rieger on a 3-pointer, then buried another trifecta of his own to bring the Panthers within 85-79 with :33 to play.

Taylor Rieger hit a pair of free throws at the :30 mark to extend the Bishop lead to 8 points, and after a Hanover miss, sank the second of 2 free throws with :15 to play that slammed the door.

Taylor Rieger led the Bishops with 19 points and 6 assists.  Rogers finished with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to post his second double-double of the season.  Clark and Gray added 13 points apiece, and White scored 11 points.

Bass led all players with 27 points.

Box Score