Men's Basketball: Ohio Northern (9-4 Overall, 4-2 OAC) at #25 Baldwin Wallace (11-2 Overall, 5-1 OAC)
Wednesday, January 10, 2018, 7 pm - Ursprung Gymnasium, Berea, Ohio
Wednesday's Game: Ohio Northern will travel to league-leading and #25-ranked Baldwin Wallace for another key OAC contest on Wednesday ... It will be the second consecutive game against a nationally-ranked opponent for the Polar Bears ... ONU is in a 4-way tie for second place in the OAC with #19 Marietta, Mount Union, Muskingum and Heidelberg with 4-2 records, while Baldwin Wallace and #23 John Carroll are tied for the top spot in the league with 5-1 records ... This will be Northern's seventh game of its 18-game, double-round robin OAC schedule ... The Polar Bears are coming off a tight 90-86 loss at then-#25 Marietta on Saturday at Ban Johnson Fieldhouse ... Junior Ryan Bruns scored a game-high 32 points to lead the way offensively, while senior Nate Burger scored 25 points and senior Joey DiOrio added an 18-point effort ... DiOrio pulled down a game-best nine rebounds while Burger dished out a game-best nine assists ... With Northern holding a 28-20 advantage with 7:23 remaining in the first half, Ban Johnson Arena suffered a power outage that suspended play for a 3-hour period ... Through 13 games this season, Burger leads the team and is second in the OAC in scoring at 25.7 ppg, leads the OAC with 75 assists and is second in the OAC with 45 3FGs ... Bruns leads the league with 38 blocked shots, is third in the league in scoring at 23.2 ppg and is third in the OAC in rebounding at 8.5 rpg ... DiOrio is third on the team in scoring at 14.7 ppg, leads the OAC with 48 3FGs and is third in the OAC in 3FG shooting at 50.5 percent (48-of-95) ... DiOrio is 133-of-278 in his career from beyond the 3-point arc, and ranks third all-time in ONU history at 47.8 percent ... Bruns is second all-time in ONU history with 162 career blocked shots and needs just 10 to break Stan Mories' school record of 171 from 1979-82. ... Baldwin Wallace re-entered the D3hoops.com national poll this week after being ranked No. 22 on Dec. 4 ... The Yellow Jackets are currently riding a seven-game winning streak, last losing to Muskingum on Dec. 9, 2017 ... During that span, BW has notched conference wins against Heidelberg, Capital, the Mount Union and Wilmington ... Cam Kuhn leads the team in scoring at 19.2 ppg ... Jay Battle is second in scoring at 15.3 ppg, Jake Fetherolf is third at 11.8 ppg and Michael Quiring is fourth at 10.1 ppg ... Fetherolf also leads the OAC in rebounding at 9.9 rpg.
Ohio Northern Probable Starters:
G - #12 Nate Burger, Sr., (25.7 ppg, 45 3FG, 6.2 rpg, 75 Ast, 22 Stls)
G - #5 Austin Allemeier, So., (4.0 ppg, 32 Ast)
F - #22 Joey DiOrio, Sr., (14.7 ppg, .505 3FG, 48 3FGs, 6.2 rpg)
F - #1 Brandon Waugh, Fr. (9.8 ppg, 19 Stls, 34 Ast)
C - #21 Ryan Bruns, Sr. (23.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 38 Blocks)
ONU Statistical Leaders:
Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Blocked Shots | ||||||||||||||
1. | Burger | 25.7 | 1. | Bruns | 8.5 | 1. | DiOrio | 48 | 1. | Burger | 75 | 1. | Bruns | 38 | ||||
2. | Burns | 23.2 | 2. | Burger | 6.2 | 2. | Burger | 45 | 2. | Waugh | 34 | 2. | DiOrio | 7 | ||||
3. | DiOrio | 14.7 | DiOrio | 6.2 | 3. | Waugh | 13 | 3. | Allemeier | 32 | 3. | Waugh | 5 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 64-48 margin ... ONU swept the regular season series last year, winning 86-77 in Ada and 94-76 in Berea, but BW edged ONU 72-71 in the OAC Tournament Quarterfinals last year in Ada ... ONU is 29-23 in games played in Berea.
ONU head coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his second season at ONU with a 25-14 record, a winning percentage of .641.