Men's Basketball: OAC Tournament Finals - Ohio Northern (19-8 Overall) at John Carroll (22-5 Overall)

Saturday, February 24, 2018, 7:30 pm - DeCarlo Center, University Heights, Ohio

| OAC Tournament Site |

Saturday's Game: The Polar Bears are the No. 3 seed in the 2018 OAC Tournament and are making their 44th appearance in the event ... Northern has won the OAC Tournament five times in its history, most recently in 2001, and are 43-38 all-time in the tournament ... This will be ONU's 11th trip to the finals of the OAC Tournament and first since 2008 ... ONU won the tournament title in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1995 and 1980 ... Senior Nate Burger scored early and a hobbled junior Ryan Bruns scored late as Ohio Northern knocked off No. 24-ranked Marietta 92-86 in the semifinals on Thursday ... Burger was on fire early, scoring Northern's first 15 points of the game and had 17 points in the first 8:43 of the contest. He finished with a game-high 36 points ... Bruns, who missed the last three games with a lower leg injury, came off the bench midway through the first half and played a gritty five minutes, scoring four points and giving the Polar Bears a boost ... Bruns then dominated the second half, scoring 20 points total in just 16 minutes of play ... Other Polar Bears played key roles as well, as freshman Brandon Waugh had 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds and senior Joey DiOrio added nine points, all of which came in the second half ... Senior Max Harnett was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor and had six points at halftime ... Bruns was named the OAC Player of the Year on Friday ... Burger joined Bruns on the First Team and DiOrio was named Honorable Mention All-OAC ... Burger is currently second in the OAC and is eighth nationally, averaging 25.1 ppg ... The senior also has a league-best 147 assists (23rd nationally), 83 3-pointers and .890 FT percentage ... Bruns also averages 24.5 ppg (3rd in OAC, 10th in NCAA) ... The junior also leads the team and ranks second in the OAC at 8.6 rpg ... He is ONU's all-time career blocked shots leader with 189. The 6-8 center leads the OAC and broke the school's single-season junior record with 65 blocked shots this season ... He currently ranks 26th all-time at ONU with 1,150 career points ... Senior Joey DiOrio currently leads the team and ranks fifth in the OAC shooting .451 from 3-point range is second on the team with 76 three pointers ... Bruns leads the league and is 11th nationally with 65 blocked shots ... Freshman Brandon Waugh currently leads the team and is second in the OAC with 45 steals ... Top-seeded John Carroll reached the finals with an 86-65 win over Heidelberg in the quarterfinals and a 93-72 win over Baldwin Wallace in the semifinals ... JCU and #24 Marietta shared the OAC Regular Season title with 14-4 records ... First Team All-OAC honoree Matthew Csuhran leads the Blue Streaks in scoring at 17.3 ppg ... Ryan Berger (H.M. All-OAC) is second at 13.5 ppg and Antonio Vuyancih (2nd Team All-OAC) is third at 13.4 ppg ... John Carroll ranks fifth in scoring as a team, averaging 99.4 ppg ... John Carroll is back in the OAC Championship game for the first time since the Blue Streaks won in 2016.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #12 Nate Burger, Sr., (25.1 ppg, 83 3FG, 5.9 rpg, 147 Ast, 39 Stls)
G - #5 Austin Allemeier, So., (4.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 58 Ast)
F - #22 Joey DiOrio, Sr., (12.7 ppg, .448 3FG, 78 3FGs, 5.9 rpg)
F - #33 Travis Feitshans, Sr., (4.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 57 Ast)
C - #13 Daniel Donner, Jr., (6.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series by a 36-31 margin ... JCU has won three straight and five of six in the series, including a 90-80 win in Ada and a 101-95 win in University Heights ... ONU is 4-3 all-time against JCU in the OAC Tournament ... JCU is 21-11 in games played at University Heights.

ONU head coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his second season at ONU with a 35-18 record, a winning percentage of .660.