Men’s Basketball: Ohio Northern (4-1 Overall, 0-0 OAC) at #13 Marietta (3-2 Overall, 0-0 OAC)

Saturday, December 4, 2021, 4 p.m. - Ban Johnson Arena, Marietta, Ohio

Saturday's Preview: Saturday's game marks the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both Ohio Northern and Marietta … The Polar Bears will be coming off a two-week break after closing out the month of November with a pair of wins in the Buffalo State (N.Y.) Coles Classic on Nov. 19-20 … Juniors C.J. Napier and Adam Scott were named to the All-Tournament Team after ONU defeated Buffalo State (N.Y.) 90-88 in overtime and Medaille (N.Y.) 78-70 … Napier posted a double-double of 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against Buffalo State and averaged 20.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in the tournament … Scott averaged 17 points and 4 rebounds per game in the tournament … Senior Brandon Waugh also scored in double figures in both games, averaging 13 points per contest … Junior Landen Long (14.8 points per game) leads a trio of Polar Bears averaging double-figure scoring … Napier and Scott are averaging 14.2 and 13.6 points per game, respectively … Long ranks 11th in the OAC in scoring average and has made a team-high 10 3-pointers on 43.5% shooting from long distance … Napier's team-high 8.0 rebounds per game ranks fifth in the OAC … Freshman Ethan Bell is tied for fifth in the OAC in total assists (17) … Marietta, ranked No. 3 in the D3hoops.com men's Top 25 poll entering the season, is now ranked No. 13 after a 3-2 start against a difficult schedule … The Pioneers' losses were 77-68 to now-No. 9 Roanoke (Va.) and 82-74 to now-No. 3 Randolph Macon (Va.) … MC is averaging 85.8 points per game and allowing 80.8 points per contest … Marietta is coming off a 102-70 win over Geneva (Pa.) on Nov. 23 in which it made 15 3-pointers, including six from senior Jason Ellis and five from sophomore Cooper Parrott … Ellis (27 points) led four double-digit scorers for MC in the game … Senior Lukas Isaly leads the team in scoring with 21.2 points per game, and Ellis is second at 15.8 points per game … Isaly ranks third in the OAC in scoring average … Senior Tim Kreeger is averaging a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th in the OAC … Jon VanderWal is in his 15th season as head coach of the Pioneers and is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a career record of 267-112 entering this year for a winning percentage of .704.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern is 59-41 in the all-time series with Marietta, including 27-24 in road games … The Pioneers have won seven straight games in the series … ONU's last win over MC was in the OAC Tournament in February 2018.

Head Coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his sixth season at ONU with a 60-61 record, a winning percentage of .496.