GAME NOTES
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's men's basketball team is set to head to the Eighth Annual Don Callan Classic hosted by Cedarville University Friday and Saturday inside the Callan Athletic Center.
The Panthers will play Indianapolis on Friday evening with tip at 5:30 and Grand Valley St. on Saturday with tip set for 4 p.m.
A year ago at the Don Callan Classic, the Panthers defeated Shawnee St. and Campbellsville-Somerset by scores of 75-65 and 97-64, respectively.
About Ohio Dominican
This will be the third time the Panthers have played in the Don Callan Classic, playing each of the last two years and before in the 2014 season. The Panthers come into the Callan Classic after defeating Kentucky St. Tuesday evening by a final score of 92-73 inside Alumni Hall.
Senior Hasan Varence (Queens, New York) led the Panthers setting a new career-high 33 points in the win on 13-of-20 shooting including a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the arc. Varence is second on ODU in scoring at 18.5 per contest with fellow senior Sam Hickey (Toledo, Ohio) leading the team at 25.5.
Senior Michael Scott (Hebron, Ky.) led the Panthers in the first half to a 41-34 lead over the Thorobreds being the lone Panther in double figures with 12 at the half. Scott also finished the contest with a career-high four steals. Varence took over the second half scoring the Panthers first 11 points and 24 total in the second half.
Sophomore Arius Jones (Lansing, Mich.) is coming off his best performance as a Panther stuffing the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The Panthers and Greyhounds have not faced off in the ODU Division II era so they will be set for their first ever meeting. ODU and Grand Valley faced off seven times before, all when the Panthers were members of the GLIAC, with GVSU holding a 6-1 lead in the series. The last game with the Lakers was the lone win for the Panthers with ODU winning 61-59 at GVSU.
About Indianapolis
The Greyhounds enter the week with a 4-0 record coming off a 95-71 win over Grand Valley Sunday evening. UIndy is averaging 81 points per contest with five players averaging double-figures led by Jimmy King at 15.8 points per game. Jordache Mavunga is second in the team in scoring at 14.8 and Trevor Lakes averages 14.0 and a team high 7.5 rebounds per game. The Greyhounds shoot 48.5% from the floor and defensively only allow their opponents to shoot 44% while giving up 72 points per game.
About Grand Valley St.
The Lakers come into the Callan Classic with a 3-1 record after their loss to UIndy and also have wins over Alderson Broaddus, Davis & Elkins and Truman State to open the year.
Grand Valley will play the host, Cedarville, on Friday before playing the Panthers Saturday.
The Laker offense is averaging 77 points per game while shooting 47.6% from the floor. Jake Van Tubbergen leads the Lakers in scoring at 22.3 points per game on an astounding 59% shooting while also grabbing a team high nine rebounds per game. Jeremiah Ferguson and Christian Negron also average double-figures for the Lakers scoring 13.8 and 13.3 points per contest, respectively.
Defensively, GVSU is giving up 73.8 points per game and allowing their opponents to shoot 44% from the field while forcing 11.8 turnovers per game.
