Men's Basketball: Otterbein (0-11 Overall, 0-4 OAC) at Ohio Northern (8-3 Overall, 3-1 OAC)

Wednesday, January 3, 2018, 7 pm - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio

| Game Program (.pdf) |

Wednesday's Game: Ohio Northern will return to Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday in the fifth game of its 18-game, double-round robin OAC schedule when Otterbein comes to the ONU Sports Center ... The Polar Bears are coming off an 88-75 win over Keene State (N.H.) to complete a 2-0 record at the Music City Classic in Gallatin, Tenn., last weekend ... Ohio Northern roared back from a 14-point first half deficit to post the win over KSC ... The Polar Bears were led by and senior Nate Burger with 32 points and seven rebounds ... Northern also got 19 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots from junior Ryan Bruns and 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds from senior Joey DiOrio ... Senior Max Harnett scored a career-high 11 points, nine of which came in the first half ... ONU finished its challenging non-conference schedule with a 4-3 record and will wrap up its season with 14 consecutive OAC battles ... Through 11 games this season, Burger leads the team and is second in the OAC in scoring at 25.7 ppg, leads the OAC with 60 assists and is second in the OAC with 38 3FGs ... Bruns leads the league with 34 blocked shots, is third in the league in scoring at 22.6 ppg and is third in the OAC in rebounding at 8.6 rpg ... DiOrio is third on the team in scoring at 14.1 ppg, leads the OAC with 39 3FGs and is second in the OAC in 3FG shooting at 50.0 percent (39-of-78) ... DiOrio is 124-of-261 in his career from beyond the 3-point arc, good for 47.5 percent ... Bruns is tied for second all-time in ONU history with 158 career blocked shots and needs just 13 to ty Stan Mories' school record of 171 from 1979-82. ... Otterbein enters Wednesday's game still looking for its first win of the 2017-18 campaign ... The Cardinals have been highly competitive despite the 0-11 record, as 8 of the 11 games have been decided by 11 points or less ... OU is coming off a heartbreaking 81-79 loss to Centre (Ky.) last Sat. at the Smokey Bellinger Classic in Westerville ... CC scored the game's final 5 points, including a basket at the buzzer, to post the win ... Nick Koontz scored 15 points to lead four Cardinals in double figures in the game ... Justin Carter leads Otterbein in scoring at 14.8 ppg and is second in rebounding at 4.3 rpg ... Connor Clark leads the team in rebounding at 4.9 rpg.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #12 Nate Burger, Sr., (25.7 ppg, 38 3FG, 6.1 rpg, 60 Ast)
G - #5 Austin Allemeier, So., (4.5 ppg, 26 Ast)
F - #22 Joey DiOrio, Sr., (14.1 ppg, .500 3FG, 39 3FGs, 5.8 rpg)
F - #1 Brandon Waugh, Fr. (9.8 ppg, 16 Stls, 25 Ast)
C - #21 Ryan Bruns, Sr. (22.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 34 Blocks)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 71-55 margin ... ONU has won 8 of the last 9 in the series, including a 98-55 win in Ada last season ... ONU is 42-22 in games played in Ada and is 29-14 at the ONU Sports Center.

ONU head coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his second season at ONU with a 24-13 record, a winning percentage of .649.