Men's Basketball: Ohio Northern (4-8 Overall, 0-5 OAC) at Muskingum (5-7 Overall, 1-4 OAC)

Saturday, January 5, 2019, 2 pm - Steele Center, New Concord, Ohio

Saturday's Game: Ohio Northern will return to OAC action on Saturday with a 2 pm contest at Muskingum ... The Polar Bears wrapped up their tough non-conference schedule with a 63-61 win over North Central (Ill.) and a 75-57 loss to Linfield (Ore.) at the 9th annual D3hoops.com Classic Dec. 27-28 in Las Vegas, Nev. ... Northern began the tournament with the loss to Linfield, as senior All-American Ryan Bruns led ONU with 22 points and 9 rebounds ... One day later, Northern built leads of 7-0 and 19-5 and never trailed against North Central ... Ohio Northern got a career-high 16 points from senior Daniel Donner and a career-high 10 points from senior Kevin Austin ... Bruns played a complete game for ONU, scoring 12 points, grabbing four rebounds, dishing out five assists and blocking four shots ... Freshman Ty Staten added 10 points and senior Austin Allemeier had five points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Polar Bears ... Bruns was named to the All-Tournament Team for his efforts ... Through 12 games this season, Bruns leads the Polar Bears and is second in the OAC in scoring, averaging 20.0 points per contest ... He also tops the team and the OAC with 33 blocks and is fourth in the OAC with a team-best 7.9 rpg average ... Bruns is ONU's all-time leader in blocked shots with 222 ... He ranks fourth all-time in ONU history in career field goal percentage at 56.1%, is 13th in made field goals with 530, is 11th in made free throws with 316, and is 12th with 1,402 career points ... Allemeier stands second in scoring this season averaging 10.8 points per outing ... Donner is second on the team and fifth in the OAC in rebounding at 6.6 rpg and leads the team and is fourth in the OAC in field goal shooting percentage at .571 ... The Muskies are coming off an 0-2 record at the Guilford (N.C.) Tournament Dec. 29-30, falling to Lynchburg (Va.) 75-66 and host Guilford 82-78 in overtime ... Senior Jalen Paige was named to the Guilford Classic All-Tournament Team for his outstanding performances against Lynchburg and Guilford, scoring a total of 24 points, dishing out eight assists, and collecting seven rebounds ... Devon Peart leads the Muskies in scoring at 14.1 ppg with Mitch Clark second at 11.6 ppg and Paige third at 9.7 ppg.

Ohio Northern Probable Starters:

G - #25 Ty Staten, Fr., (5.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 29 Ast)
G - #14 Daniel Unruh, Fr., (8.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 26 Ast, 14 Steals)
F - #5 Austin Allemeier, Jr., (10.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 31 Ast)
F - #13 Daniel Donner, Sr., (8.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, .571 FG%)
C - #21 Ryan Bruns, Sr., (20.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 33 Blocks, 15 Steals)

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Muskingum by a 68-47 margin ... ONU is riding a 7-game winning streak in the series, including 82-69 and 108-87 victories last season ... The Polar Bears are 39-16 against MU in Ada and are 33-11 with a 7-game home win streak in the ONU Sports Center.

ONU head coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his third season at ONU with a 39-27 record, a winning percentage of .591.