Men's Basketball: Ohio Northern (5-3 Overall, 3-1 OAC) at Denison (6-3 Overall, 3-1 NCAC)
Wednesday, December 20, 2017, 7 pm - Livingston Gymnasium, Granville, Ohio
Wednesday's Game: The Ohio Northern men's basketball team enters Wednesday evening's contest after dropping its first Ohio Athletic Conference contest of the season at John Carroll 101-95 ... In that contest seniors Nate Burger and Joey DiOrio each had career-days as Burger poured in a career-high 34 points to lead all scorers, while DiOrio scored a career-best 25 points for ONU ... Burger added a game-best eight assists for ONU, while DiOrio grabbed eight rebounds ... Junior Ryan Bruns posted his second double-double in the last three games with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while freshman Brandon Waugh chipped in 13 points ... Burger currently leads the OAC and ranks fifth nationally with 26.0 points per contest ... The senior also leads the OAC and ranks seventh in the nation with 6.8 assists per contest ... Bruns currently ranks second on the team and third in the OAC with 21.0 points per contest ... The juniors 8.6 rebounds per contest leads the team and ranks third in the OAC ... Bruns also leads the team and conference with 25 blocks this season and is tied for eighth nationally in the category ... Denison enters the contest after dropping its last two contests ... The Big Red are led offensively this season by senior Maxwell Siwik's 13.3 ppg ... Senior Garrett Collier is also averaging double-figures and ranks second on the team with 11.7 points per contest ... Sophomore Jack Coulter currently has a team-best 24 three points field goals ... Collier currently leads the team on the glass with 6.2 rebounds per contest and is tied with junior Matt Doyle for first on the team with 1.3 steals per game.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #12 Nate Burger, Sr., (26.0 ppg, 28 3FG, 54 Ast)
G - #5 Austin Allemeier, So., (4.0 ppg, 17 Ast, 6 Stls)
F - #22 Joey DiOrio, Sr., (15.1 ppg, .483 3FG, 6.0 rpg)
F - #1 Brandon Waugh, Fr. (10.9 ppg, 13 Stls, 15 Ast)
C - #21 Ryan Bruns, Sr. (21.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 25 Blocks)
ONU Returning Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Blocked Shots | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Burger | 26.0 | 1. | Bruns | 8.6 | 1. | DiOrio | 28 | 1. | Burger | 54 | 1. | Bruns | 25 | ||||
| 2. | Burns | 21.0 | 2. | DiOrio | 6.0 | Burger | 28 | 2. | Allemeier | 17 | 2. | DiOrio | 5 | |||||
| 3. | DiOrio | 15.1 | 3. | Burger | 5.8 | 3. | Waugh | 9 | 3. | DiOrio | 15 | 3. | Waugh | 2 | ||||
| 4. | Waugh | 10.9 |
All-Time Series: The Polar Bears lead the all-time series between the two schools by a 16-13 margin ... Denison has won the last two matchups.
ONU head coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his second season at ONU with a 21-13 record, a winning percentage of .618.