Men's Basketball: Ohio Northern (2-3 Overall, 2-3 OAC) v Capital (4-4 Overall, 4-4 OAC)
Friday, February 19, 2021, 7 p.m. - Capital Center, Bexley, Ohio
Saturday, February 20, 2021, 6 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
This Weekend's Preview: The Polar Bears will continue their abbreviated 2021 season with a home-and-home series with Capital this weekend ... The teams will play on Friday night at 7 pm at bexley and will wrap up the series with a 6 pm contest at Ohio Northern on Saturday ... No fans will be allowed to attend the games due to the OAC's COVID-19 policy ... Northern was slated to play John Carroll twice last weekend, but the games were canceled due to COVID-19 protocol issues at JCU ... ONU is looking to snap a 3-game losing streak after falling 86-76 and 64-59 to Heidelberg Feb. 5-6 ... Sophomore Grant Heileman had a career-high 15 points and sophomore C.J. Napier had his third consecutive double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds for ONU in the 64-59 loss ... Napier scored 21 points and grabbed 10 boards in the 86-76 loss on Feb. 5 ... Napier leads the team and is sixth in the league in scoring at 18.6 ppg and leads the team and is second in the OAC in rebounding at 10.0 rpg ... Junior Brandon Waugh is second on the team and 10th in the league in scoring at 15.6 ppg ... He is also fifth in the OAC in rebounding at 7.0 rpg and is 8th in the OAC with 19 assists ... As a team, Ohio Northern leads the league by committing only an average of 10.4 turnovers per game ... ONU has made 74 free throws this season, while its opponents have attempted only 76 ... The Polar Bears will wrap up their 2021 regular season next weekend with a home-and-home against Baldwin Wallace ... The Crusaders are coming off a sweep of Baldwin Wallace last weekend, winning 88-79 in Berea on Friday and 65-60 in Bexley on Saturday ... Freshman Carter Combs scored 20 points and senior Reed Bradford added 17 to lead CU on Friday, while Combs sophomore Griffin Deseck led CU with 12 points each on Saturday ... Combs leads CU in scoring at 13.9 ppg this season ... Deseck is second at 8.0 ppg and is first in rebounding at 5.8 rpg ... Capital is second in the league, allowing only 69.1 ppg.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Napier | 18.6 | 1. | Napier | 10.0 | 1. | Waugh | 8 | 1. | Waugh | 19 | 1. | Waugh | 13 | ||||
| 2. | Waugh | 15.6 | 2. | Waugh | 7.0 | Long | 8 | 2. | Napier | 14 | 2. | Scott | 4 | |||||
| 3. | Berner | 12.7 | 3. | Berner | 4.7 | 3. | Napier | 5 | 3. | Scott | 7 | Long | 4 | |||||
| Unruh | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
All-Time Series: Capital leads the all-time series between the two schools by an 81-63 margin ... ONU is 40-29 at home, is 27-17 at the ONU Sports Center and is 25-48 in Bexley ... Capital has won four straight in the series, including a 79-59, 70-56 sweep last season.
Head Coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his fifth season at ONU with a 53-56 record, a winning percentage of .486.