GAME NOTES
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's men's basketball team earned the No. 6 seed in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinal as the Panthers travel to No. 3 Walsh Tuesday with tip set for 7:30 p.m. in North Canton.
The Panthers are coming into the tournament with a 12-16 record overall and were 8-10 in conference play this season after a 68-58 loss in the season finale against Trevecca Nazarene.
Hasan Varence (Queens, New York) is second in the conference in scoring at 19.8 points per game while also leading the conference grabbing 9.8 rebounds per game. The senior forward recorded his 50th career double-double, which leads active players in the country, in last Saturday's loss having 18 points and 14 rebounds. Varence is closing in on 1,100 rebounds for his career sitting just seven shy which sits him second in Panther history.
Sam Hickey (Toledo, Ohio) is second on the team in both points and rebounds per game scoring 16 points and grabbing 4.6 rebounds a night. Hickey has scored in double-figures 21 times this season, 10 of which have been 20-plus point games. The senior guard has scored at least 15 points in five of the last seven games which included 29 points at Malone February 22. Earlier this season, Hickey had 15 points and five rebounds in the home loss to Walsh.
Michael Scott (Hebron, Ky.) added to his record breaking season against Trevecca Nazarene as the senior point guard added six assists in the loss to sit at 163 assists on the season. That places him second in the conference in assists and 23rd in the country while his 6.3 assists per game is also second in the conference and is 14th in the country.
Earlier this season, the Panthers lost to Walsh 70-48 inside Alumni Hall where the Panthers shot just 29.8% from the floor and 23.1% from three.
After winning the 2017-18 G-MAC Tournament Championship, the Panthers fell to Cedarville in the quarterfinal contest a year ago 81-77.
About Walsh
Walsh comes in winning their last two games of the regular season over Malone and Lake Erie last week and currently sit at 22-6 overall and were 13-5 in conference play.
The defending conference tournament champions lead the conference in scoring at 84.2 points per game.
The Cavalier offense is led by Darryl Straughter who is fifth in the conference in scoring at 17.2 points per game. The senior guard leads the conference and is ninth in the country in three pointers made per game at 3.63. Sophomore forward JT Shumate is second in scoring for the Cavaliers scoring 14.7 points per game shooting 50% from the floor and leads the Cavs on the glass grabbing 7.4 rebounds per game.
Christian Montague and Mark Mokros also average over 12 points per game for the Cavalier offense who overall shoot 49.4% from the floor.
Defensively, the Cavaliers rank second in points per game given up at 67.6 and their scoring margin of 16.6 leads the conference and is eighth in the country. They force 10.4 turnovers per game which ranks them second in the G-MAC and allow their opponent to shoot just 41.6% from the floor.
