Men’s Basketball: Ohio Northern (8-8 Overall, 4-5 OAC) at Marietta (9-7 Overall, 4-5 OAC)

Saturday, January 21, 2023, 2 p.m. - Ban Johnson Arena, Marietta, Ohio

Saturday's Preview: The Polar Bears open the second half of their Ohio Athletic Conference schedule on Saturday in the opener of a men's-women's doubleheader at Marietta … ONU and Marietta are in a three-way tie with Otterbein for fifth place in the conference standings with matching 4-5 records … The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 21-25 … In the teams' first meetings this season, ONU fell 73-59 to Marietta and defeated Otterbein 73-71 in overtime … Northern is coming off Wednesday's 65-64 win at Heidelberg … Senior C.J. Napier made a pair of free throws with two seconds left to provide the winning margin … Napier finished with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double … Freshman Will Miller scored 13 points, and senior Michael Berner added 11 points … Napier is the reigning OAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week … Through 16 games this season, Napier is averaging a team-best 16.8 points per game, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Senior Landen Long is averaging 10.6 points per game, and senior Adam Scott is averaging 10.2 points per game … Napier is averaging a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Berner is second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game … Napier has 1,102 career points and is the 40th member of ONU's 1,000-Point Club … Napier is tied for 31st on the program's all-time scoring list … Long has made a team-leading 20 3-pointers … Sophomore Ethan Bell has made 18 3-pointers and is shooting 42.9% from beyond the arc, which ranks sixth in the OAC … Bell leads the team with 41 assists, which ranks seventh in the OAC … Miller has a team-high 25 steals, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Berner leads the team with 19 blocks, which ranks fourth in the OAC … Marietta is riding a four-game losing streak and is coming off Wednesday's 86-83 home loss to Capital … That stretch also included a narrow, 73-71 defeat at No. 3 Mount Union … On Wednesday, Capital led by 15 points before Marietta responded with a 15-2 run to get within two with 15 seconds left en route to the loss … Four Pioneers scored in double figures led by junior David Sanford with 24 points and junior Cooper Parrott with 22 … In their win at ONU earlier this season, Sanford led three players in double figures with 14 points … Through 16 games, Sanford leads the team in scoring with 11.5 points per game followed by sophomore Lovenson Xavier with 11.3 points per game … Senior Sahmi Willoughby ranks second in the OAC with 7.8 rebounds per game and leads the team with 11 blocks on the season … Junior Jac Alexander has a team-best 34 assists … Sanford leads the team with 18 steals and has made a team-high 26 3-pointers on 30.6% shooting from beyond the arc … Sanford is tied for sixth in the OAC in 3-pointers made.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Marietta by a 59-45 margin, including a 27-26 mark in Marietta … MC has won 11 straight meetings dating back to 2019 … In the teams' earlier matchup this season, MC won 73-59 in Ada on Dec. 3.

Head Coach Neal Young: Young is in his first season at ONU and has a 8-8 record. He is 136-129 in 10 seasons overall after five seasons as head coach at Covenant (Ga.) and four seasons as head coach at Goshen (Ind.).