Men's Basketball: Ohio Northern (2-2 Overall, 0-0 OAC) at Capital (2-3 Overall, 0-0 OAC)

Saturday, December 2, 2017, 2 pm - Capital Center, Bexley, Ohio

Saturday's Game: Ohio Northern will open the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of its 2017-18 schedule on Saturday with a 2 pm contest at Capital ... ONU has won three straight OAC openers and its last two OAC road openers ... Ohio Northern is coming off a tight 81-79 setback to Alma (Mich.) in its 2017-18 home opener at the ONU Sports Center on Wednesday evening ... Northern was led in the contest by senior Nate Burger's 23-point and 8-assist effort, while junior Ryan Bruns (tallied 18 points, senior Joey DiOrio scored 13 points and junior Daniel Donner added 10 points and eight rebounds ... DiOrio's buzzer beating 3-point attempt nearly pushed the Polar Bears to victory as it bounced around the cylinder before rimming out as Alma claimed the victory ... Through 4 games this season, Burger leads the team and is second in the OAC in scoring averaging 25.8 ppg and leads the OAC with 28 assists ... Bruns is fourth in the league at 20.8 ppg, is second in the OAC in rebounding at 8.3 rpg and leads the OAC with 13 blocked shots ... Senior Joey DiOrio is third on the squad in scoring at 11.5 ppg ...  DiOrio is 97-of-207 in his career from beyond the 3-point arc, good for 46.9 percent ... Bruns currently ranks 3rd all-time in ONU history with 137 career blocked shots ... Capital is also coming off a tight loss, falling 55-52 at Adrian (Mich.) on Wednesday evening ... Joey Weingartner led the Crusaders with 18 points in the game ... Austin Schreck leads CU in scoring at 13.2 ppg ... Weingartner is second at 11.4 ppg and Caleb Cox is third in scoring at 10.0 ppg and first in rebounding at 7.2 rpg.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #12 Nate Burger, Sr., (25.8 ppg, 14 3FG, 28 Ast)
G - #5 Austin Allemeier, So., (5.8 ppg, 7 Ast, 4 Stls)
F - #22 Joey DiOrio, Sr., (11.5 ppg, .500 3FG, 4.8 rpg)
F - #13 Daniel Donner, Jr. (6.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 10 Ast)
C - #21 Ryan Bruns, Sr. (20.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 13 Blocks)

ONU Returning Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Capital leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 77-60 margin ... ONU has won 3 straight in the series, including a 75-71 win in Bexley last year ... CU is 46-22 all-time in games played in Bexley.

ONU head coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his second season at ONU with an 18-12 record, a winning percentage of .600.