Just My Thoughts: ONU Men and Women In Pursuit of OAC Crowns Once Again
By JON COOK
The calendar shows that it is January, and for the second consecutive winter, both the Ohio Northern men’s and women’s basketball teams are in the thick of the title chase in the Ohio Athletic Conference. At this time one year ago, the Polar Bear women were well on the way to winning their fourth league
championship in the last five years and a magical season that saw them win their first 30 games before falling in the NCAA Division III Elite Eight.
The men got off to a slow start last season but began rounding into shape at about this time and rattled off 10 straight wins in January and February before losing two of their final three regular-season games to end the season tied for 2nd in the conference.
The Lady Polar Bears, led by 17th-year head coach Michele Durand, hosted Marietta at home in King-Horn Center in Ada Saturday. Durand’s club, ranked 14th in Division III poll (12-1 overall and a perfect 6-0 in OAC play) beat the #18-ranked Pioneers 72-57. The Lady Polar Bears are paced by strong senior leadership. Post player Amy Bullimore averages 15 points and 10 rebounds a game, but they have a balanced lineup that has seven players averaging between 5 and 9 points per contest. Eight different players have scored in double digits at least one game this season, including fellow seniors Courtney Cramer (Wing, Arcadia HS), Lindsey Black (Point Guard, Graham HS) and Alexis Kirkbride (Point Guard, Bishop Rosecrans HS) as well as Juniors Jenna Dirksen (Wing, Carroll HS), Tori Wyss (Wing/Post, Ada HS) and Alyssa Manley (Point/Wing, Bath HS).When the 2017-2018 season began league coaches voted the ONU ladies as the preseason favorite to win the OAC just ahead of the Marietta Pioneers.
On the men’s side, Marietta was tabbed as the favorite, while Polar Bears were predicted to finish just 6th. On Saturday both teams will face Marietta at 3:00 pm.
The ONU men made the long drive down to Marietta to face a Pioneer squad that is currently ranked 25th in the country. The Polar Bears entered the game in a 3-way tie for 1st place in the OAC at 4-1, with Marietta is right behind at 3-2 in league play. After a power outage in the building delayed the action for a few hours, Marietta hung on for a 90-86 victory.
Second-year head coach Rich Bensman has led his team to a 9-3 start this year and they just completed a holiday tournament title of their own. The Polar Bears spent last weekend in Nashville, TN winning the Music City Classic with victories over Lynchburg (Va.), 84-64 and Keene St.(N.H.), 88-75. The Polar Bears are led by the dynamic duo of senior point guard Nate Burger (Kettering Alter HS) who averages an eye-popping 25.8 points per game, and 6’8” junior post player Ryan Bruns (Marion Local HS) who averages 22.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. The high scoring Polar Bears have four players averaging double figures and shoot 40% from the 3-point line as a team for the season. Other double-digit scorers are senior wing Joey DiOrio (Bishop Watterson HS), 14.4 ppg and freshman guard Brandon Waugh (Northland HS), 10.3 ppg. Both have raised their averages (18.8 and 12.4 respectively) in OAC play.
Saturday’s action puts both the ONU men and women just one-third of the way through the grueling OAC schedule and both have tilts against Baldwin-Wallace University ahead on Wednesday. There is a long, long way to go in the chase for a conference championship, but ONU’s men and women are both in the
hunt. It seems almost fitting that Polar Bears would thrive in this weather… But these are Just My Thoughts.