Season Review: Men’s Basketball shows flashes of promise in 2021-22 season

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — Despite finishing with a sub-.500 record, the Ohio Northern men's basketball team displayed some promise for the future during the 2021-22 season.

The Polar Bears closed the year at 10-15 overall and 3-13 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, but that was after putting together a strong 7-3 start in the 2021 portion of its schedule.

Eight players, including four starters, missed a pair of games in January, which undoubtedly impacted the team during the early portion of conference play. But the Polar Bears battled through the adversity to ultimately advance to the OAC Tournament quarterfinals before falling to No. 2 Marietta to close the season.

The ONU roster featured just one senior in Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland), who earned an All-OAC Honorable Mention selection for the second time in his career after leading the team with 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game while ranking second on the squad with 12.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. He also made a team-high 44 3-pointers.

Waugh scored in double figures in 15 games, including a season-high 25 points against Baldwin Wallace on Feb. 9 when he added 11 rebounds and eight assists. He also nearly notched a triple-double in a Jan. 26 win at Wilmington when he tallied 17 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Waugh's 88 assists and 39 steals on the season ranked third and fifth, respectively, in the OAC. He closed the season with 151 steals and 275 assists in his ONU career, which rank 10th and 14th, respectively, in school history.

Several other Polar Bears showed plenty of promise.

Junior C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) joined Waugh as an All-OAC Honorable Mention selection after leading the team in scoring with 16.2 points per game, which ranked seventh in the OAC. His 8.5 rebounds per game led the team and ranked second in the conference.

The three-time All-OAC selection tallied eight double-doubles on the season and was named Academic All-OAC.

Napier scored in double figures in 19 of the 21 games in which he played and matched his career-high of 27 points in the opening round of the OAC Tournament against Muskingum. He set a new career-high in rebounds this season, grabbing 14 on a pair of occasions.

Juniors Landen Long (Mason) and Michael Berner (Springboro) also earned Academic All-OAC honors at the end of the season after making 20-plus starts.

Long and Berner ranked fourth and fifth on the team in scoring with respective averages of 9.7 and 8.3 points per game. Berner ranked fourth on the team in rebounding with 4.6 per game.

Junior Adam Scott (Wapakoneta) was also a key contributor, starting 23 games and averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game to rank third on the team in both categories.

Junior Grant Heileman (Millersport/Sheridan), sophomore Carson Conley (Newark/Licking Valley) and freshmen Ethan Bell (Marion/River Valley) and Garrett Chapin (Norwalk) also played in 20-plus games this past season.

Bell headlined that group, ranking second on the team in total assists (66) and third in steals (17) and 3-pointers made (22).

So the Polar Bears have some talent to build with as they go into the 2022-23 season under new head coach Neal Young.

Young, who comes to Ada following a successful five-year stint at Covenant (Ga.) College, replaces Rich Bensman, who stepped down after the season to close a six-year tenure leading the Polar Bears.