By Tony Miller
Sports Information Director

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Logan Primerano's season-high 26 points led Goshen College in an 81-78 men's basketball loss to Ohio Christian University on Wednesday night.

Conner Funkhouser tossed in 14 points off the bench for the Maple Leafs (4-3), who also got a game-high-tying 12 rebounds from Alhassan Barrie.

Ohio Christian (2-4) used a mid-first-half spurt to open up its first lead of the game, one which peaked at 33-25 with 6:51 remaining in the half. Goshen held the Trailblazers to two field goals over the next nine minutes, closing the period on a 17-6 run behind six points from Emmanuel Audu.

The Maple Leafs led 42-39 at halftime and used eight straight Primerano points in a two-minute span to open an eight-point lead early in the second session. GC took its largest lead of the game, nine points, on a Funkhouser bucket with 9:48 remaining and matched it again when Primerano scored 67 seconds later.

Ohio Christian shaved the deficit back to one possession on several occasions but went cold from the floor at an inopportune time, going 0-for-3 with a turnover from the 5:05 to 3:05 marks as an Audu bucket gave Goshen a 74-68 lead. But the Trailblazers had enough time to score 11 points on their next four trips, with Corey Wyman tossing in eight points including back-to-back triples to give his team a 79-78 lead with 47 seconds left.

Goshen missed a shot on its ensuing possession: after an OCU turnover with 22 seconds left, Primerano's try at 0:08 rimmed out and forced the Maple Leafs to foul in an attempt to conserve time. John Johnson, who led the hosts with 18 points and 12 rebounds, hit both foul shots to put Ohio Christian up three and a Goshen desperation heave was unsuccessful at the final buzzer.

Each team knocked down 30 field goals on the night: Ohio Christian did so on 10 fewer attempts and made up for a three-free-throw deficit by draining 11 threes to Goshen's five.

Wyman finished with 14 points for OCU while Kaleb Vaughn and Rijnard Hartman added 13 each. Hartman added nine rebounds and Jalen Hearn posted four assists. Funkhouser and Patryck Ostrowski each chipped in six rebounds for GC.

While Wednesday night marked Goshen's second-to-last tuneup before Crossroads League play, the OCU game was the final non-conference game of November for season statistics purposes. The Maple Leafs visit Davenport on Saturday in an exhibition game: tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at the DU Student Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.