Men’s Basketball: Ohio Northern (4-5 Overall) at Naples (Fla.) Classic
Thursday-Friday, Dec. 29-30, 2022 - Community School of Naples, Naples, Fla.
Event Preview: The Polar Bears close out their non-conference schedule on Thursday and Friday with a pair of games in the Naples (Fla.) Classic, which is being held at the Community School of Naples … Northern will face Clarkson (N.Y.) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Suffolk (Mass.) on Friday at 5 p.m. … ONU last played on Dec. 17, falling 72-62 to Capital in Ada … Freshman Will Miller led the Polar Bears with a career-high 20 points to go with five rebounds and three steals … Senior C.J. Napier finished with 13 points, and senior Adam Scott added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds … Napier is averaging a team-best 14.7 points per game, which ranks sixth in the OAC … Senior Landen Long is averaging 11.7 points per game, Miller is averaging 9.8 points per game and Scott is averaging 9.7 points per game … Napier is averaging a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th in the OAC … Senior Michael Berner is second on the team in rebounding with 5.4 per game … Napier has 970 career points and is just 30 shy of becoming the 40th member of ONU's 1,000-Point Club … Long has made a team-leading 10 3-pointers and is shooting 40% from beyond the arc … Sophomore Ethan Bell leads the team with 28 assists, which ranks fourth in the OAC … Miller has a team-high 13 steals, which ranks ninth in the OAC … Berner leads the team with 10 blocks, which is tied for sixth in the OAC … Clarkson (N.Y.) enters the Naples Classic with a record of 5-3 overall and is riding a three-game win streak … The Golden Knights last played on Dec. 11 when they came away with a 90-66 win at Northern Vermont University-Lyndon … Four players scored in double figures for CU led by senior Ryan Miles-Ferguson with 23, senior Blake Gearhart with 20 and sophomore Jack Dalgety with 18 … Dalgety has averaged 19 points and 9.3 rebounds per game during the team's current win streak … Through eight games, Miles-Ferguson leads the team with 17 points per game … Gearhart and Dalgety are averaging 12.5 and 11.1 points per game, respectively … Dalgety is averaging a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game and has made a team-high 19 3-pointers while shooting 35.2% from beyond the arc … Gearhart has a team-high 36 assists and 16 steals on the season … Suffolk (Mass.) enters the Naples Classic with a record of 3-5 overall and is riding a five-game losing streak … The Rams last played on Dec. 10 when they fell 90-82 at Tufts (Mass.) … Five players scored in double figures for SU led by graduate student William Rowe with 17 and sophomores Cole LeVangie and Keenan Robertson with 13 each … Through eight games, the Rams have four players averaging double digits in scoring in Robertson (18.3 points per game), LeVangie (14.0), senior Aidan Sullivan (12.3) and Rowe (10.6) … Robertson is averaging a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game … Sullivan leads the team with 30 assists and 17 steals … LeVangie has made a team-high 19 3-pointers on 38% shooting from beyond the arc.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
1. | Napier | 14.7 | 1. | Napier | 6.0 | 1. | Long | 10 | 1. | Bell | 28 | 1. | Miller | 13 | ||||
2. | Long | 11.7 | 2. | Berner | 5.4 | 2. | Bell | 9 | 2. | Conley | 16 | 2. | Studer | 12 | ||||
3. | Miller | 9.8 | 3. | Scott | 5.1 | 3. | Miller | 8 | 3. | Long | 13 | 3. | Bell | 10 | ||||
Scott | 13 | Long | 10 |
All-Time Series: This marks Ohio Northern's first all-time meetings with Clarkson (N.Y.) and Suffolk (Mass.).
Head Coach Neal Young: Young is in his first season at ONU and has a 4-5 record. He is 132-126 in 10 seasons overall after five seasons as head coach at Covenant (Ga.) and four seasons as head coach at Goshen (Ind.).