Men's Basketball: Muskingum (5-8 Overall) at Ohio Northern (4-6 Overall) - OAC Tournament Semifinals

Thursday, March 4, 2021, 7 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio

| OAC Tournament page | Game Program (.pdf) |

Thursday's Preview: The Polar Bears are the No. 5 seed in this week's OAC Tournament and will host No. 6 Muskingum in the Semifinals on Thursday at 7 pm at the ONU Sports Center... Limited fans will be allowed to attend the games due to the OAC's COVID-19 policy ... ONU advanced to the semis with a thrilling 80-79 win at No. 4 seeded John Carroll in the Quarterfinals on Tuesday ... Sophomore Landen Long scored a career-high 25 points to lead Ohio Northern  ... Sophomore Adam Scott added a career-high 16 points and sophomore Grant Heileman tied a career-high with 15 points for the Polar Bears ... Sophomore C.J. Napier leads the team and is third in the league in scoring at 18.7 ppg and leads the team and is second in the OAC in rebounding at 9.4 rpg ... Junior Brandon Waugh is second on the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg ... He also averages 5.5 rpg and is fourth in the OAC with 43 assists and second with 22 steals ... Long is third on the team at 11.2 ppg ... Heileman averages 9.5 ppg and is fifth in the OAC with a .563 field goal shooting percentage ... ONU has made 161 FTs this season, while its opponents have attempted only 153 ... The seeds for the OAC Tournament were determined by a weighted system that factors in a team's winning percentage (2/3) and its opponents' winning percentage (1/3) ... ONU is looking for its sixth OAC Tournament title ... Northern won the title in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1995 and 1980 ... The finals are Saturday and will feature the ONU-MU winner against either No. 7 seed Wilmington or No. 1 seed and No. 12-ranked Marietta ... The Muskies are the No. 6 seed in the OAC Tournament ... They advanced to the Seimfinals with an 88-81 win at No. 3 seed Mount Union on Tuesday ... Junior MJ Smith led MU with 21 points and junior Trey Singleton had 16 points ... MU used a 22-6 run late in the game to pull away ... Singleton leads the Muskies in scoring, averaging 15.3 ppg, and is shooting .497 from the field ... Senior Alex Masinelli is second in scoring at 13.8 ppg and Smith is third at 13.1 with a team-high 40 3-pointers and is shooting .500 from deep.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 71-48 margin ... ONU is 39-16 at home, is 33-11 at the ONU Sports Center and is 26-24 at New Concord ... ONU has won 10 straight in the series and has a 4-5 record against MU in OAC Tournament play.

Head Coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his fifth season at ONU with a 55-59 record, a winning percentage of .482.