Six Polar Bears named Academic All-OAC in Men's Basketball for 2017-18

By Tim Glon

ADA — Six athletes from the Ohio Northern men's basketball team have been named Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference for the 2017-18 season.

Seniors Joey DiOrio (Columbus/Watterson), Max Harnett (Kettering/Alter) and Alex Sibila (Zionsville, Ind.), junior Sean Grady (Willowick/Eastlake North) and sophomores Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) and Austin Wurm (Bloomville/Buckeye Central) each earned the honor for Northern.

DiOrio, a mechanical engineering major, is a three-time Academic All-OAC award winner.

He was also named Honorable Mention All-Conference and First Team Academic All-District this season.

DiOrio is a two-year starter at small forward and finished his career with 778 points in 100 games.

He ranks 10th all-time in ONU history with 166 career 3-pointers and is third all-time with a .454 career shooting percentage from 3-point range.

Harnett has also won the award three times and is majoring in mechanical engineering.

He appeared in 22 games this season with one start at center. He averaged more than seven minutes of playing time per game and scored 62 points on the season.

Sibila, an electrical engineering major, is now a three-time Academic All-OAC honoree.

He appeared in 15 games at power forward, making starts in two this season.

In his 47-game career, Sibila averaged 1.2 points and 1.2 rebounds per contest.

Grady is now a two-time Academic All-OAC honoree and is majoring in accounting.

This season, he appeared in 21 games as a point guard, averaging 7.2 minutes and .8 points per game in a reserve role.

He has played in 25 career games.

Bryan has seen action in five games in his first two season as ONU and is majoring in civil engineering.

This season, he scored two points in nine minutes of action as a forward.

Wurm was on ONU's varsity roster all season but did not see playing time. He is a guard majoring in civil engineering.

The Polar Bears posted a 19-9 record this season, finished third in the OAC regular season standings and reached the championship game of the OAC Tournament under second-year head coach Rich Bensman.