Men’s Basketball: Ohio Northern (7-8 Overall, 3-5 OAC) at Heidelberg (12-3 Overall, 7-1 OAC)
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, 7 p.m. - Seiberling Gymnasium, Tiffin, Ohio
Wednesday's Preview: The Polar Bears continue Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday at Heidelberg … ONU is in a three-way tie with Otterbein and Baldwin Wallace for sixth place in the conference standings with matching 3-5 records … The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 21-25 … Northern is coming off Saturday's 61-50 home win over Muskingum … Senior C.J. Napier led ONU with 24 points, and freshman Mason Studer added 11 points … Napier was named OAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week after averaging 22 points and 4.5 rebounds last week, shooting 77.3% from the floor … Through 15 games this season, Napier is averaging a team-best 16.8 points per game, which ranks fourth in the OAC … Senior Landen Long is averaging 11.3 points per game, and senior Adam Scott is averaging 10.3 points per game … Napier is averaging a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game, which is tied for fifth in the OAC … Senior Michael Berner is second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game … Napier has 1,086 career points and is the 40th member of ONU's 1,000-Point Club … Napier ranks 33rd on the all-time scoring list … Long has made a team-leading 20 3-pointers and is shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc, which ranks ninth in the OAC … Sophomore Ethan Bell leads the team with 40 assists, which ranks sixth in the OAC … Freshman Will Miller has a team-high 23 steals, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Berner leads the team with 17 blocks, which is tied for fourth in the OAC … Heidelberg is riding a three-game win streak and is in a three-way tie atop the OAC standings with No. 3 Mount Union and No. 9 John Carroll … The Student Princes handed Mount Union its only loss on the season, 82-70 in Tiffin on Dec. 3 … HU is coming off Saturday's 82-76 home win over Marietta … Sophomore Jashun Cobb led HU with 16 points, and graduate student Emmanuel Perdue added 15 points … Through 15 games, HU has four players averaging double figures in scoring in Perdue (13.3 points per game), sophomore Isaiah Young (11.5), senior Tre Watkins (10.9) and graduate student Seth Hohman (10.3) to help the Student Princes rank second in the OAC in scoring (80.1 points per game) … Perdue is tied for 10th in the OAC in scoring average … Junior Eric Panning ranks third in the OAC with 7.7 rebounds per game … Young has 46 assists, which ranks fourth in the OAC … Cobb, Hohman and junior Zane Leitwein each have 21 steals, which is tied for seventh in the OAC … Senior Amil Jenkins ranks third in the OAC with 23 blocks … Hohman has made 37 3-pointers on 43% shooting from beyond the arc, which ranks tied for first and fourth, respectively, in the OAC.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
1. | Napier | 16.8 | 1. | Napier | 6.8 | 1. | Long | 20 | 1. | Bell | 40 | 1. | Miller | 23 | ||||
2. | Long | 11.3 | 2. | Berner | 5.5 | 2. | Bell | 16 | 2. | Miller | 22 | 2. | Bell | 16 | ||||
3. | Scott | 10.3 | 3. | Scott | 4.7 | 3. | Miller | 12 | Scott | 22 | Long | 16 | ||||||
Studer | 16 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Heidelberg by a 107-67 margin, including a 47-32 mark in Tiffin … HU has won three straight meetings and seven of the past 10 … HU swept both meetings last season, 74-71 in Ada and 95-64 in Tiffin.
Head Coach Neal Young: Young is in his first season at ONU and has a 7-8 record. He is 135-129 in 10 seasons overall after five seasons as head coach at Covenant (Ga.) and four seasons as head coach at Goshen (Ind.).