Junior Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds and tallied a season-high 24 points as Wilmington moved back to .500 with the 69-50 victory over Ohio Northern Wednesday at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.

It was the fourth double-double of the season for Heard, who nearly achieved the feat by halftime. The forward had 16 points and nine boards at the break. Heard added a team-highs with four assists, two blocks and two steals.

"We have challenged Malcolm in the past couple of weeks to not just rebound on physical ability," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. "If he actually boxed out, he could get 20 rebounds a night."

Wilmington's depth eventually wore down ONU as the Fightin' Quakers scored the final 15 points of the game. With WC clinging to a four-point lead with 5:25 left in the game, it was Heard's passing ability that sparked the home team. He assisted on three straight baskets, including a dandy backdoor feed to junior Klarke Ransome (Richwood, OH/North Union) that pushed WC's lead to 11 and led to a Polar Bear timeout.

"I thought the key to the game was our effort and energy level," said Hunt. "One of Ohio Northern's weaknesses is its lack of depth. We threw different bodies and different personnel groups at them and were able to wear them down."

The timeout didn't stem the tide as Wilmington added eight more points in completing the game-ending run.
Wilmington (8-8 overall) has now won four straight games to end the first half of the conference slate at 5-4. The Fightin' Quakers stand in fourth place, two games behind Baldwin-Wallace and three games behind league leaders Marietta and Capital. WC travels to Marietta 3 p.m. Saturday. The Pioneers defeated Wilmington, 64-57, on December 8.

Despite the current roll Wilmington finds itself on, don't expect the Fightin' Quakers to get ahead of themselves.

"We are going to take it one game at a time," said Hunt. "We have a motivated group that wants revenge for the loses on our home court. It's a motivated team to take it one game at a time and win as many games as we can."

Senior Brandon Candella (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) added 11 points and three rebounds, while sophomore Dwight Johnson (Dayton, OH/Jefferson) recorded eight points and three assists.