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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team opens a new month with the beginning of Great Midwest Athletic Conference action.

The Panthers will tipoff against Ashland at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 2, before hosting Tiffin at 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 4. Both games will cap a men's-women's basketball doubleheader inside Alumni Hall.

OPENING TIP-OFF

• Fresh off its first win of the season, Ohio Dominican is set to begin Great Midwest play with a pair of home games against Ashland and Tiffin.
• The Panthers will look to duplicate their strong start to conference play from last winter, when they won two of their first three and three of the first five G-MAC games.
• ODU is coming off a come-from-behind 77-74 win versus Wilberforce on Monday night.
• The Panthers scored the final seven points of the game and were led by Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio) with a season-high 29 points. 
• Marks scored 24 points in the second half, including four of his five made three pointers in the game.
• Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) added a season high 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
• After the opening month of action, the Panthers are averaging 73.5 points per game offensively, but are still conceding over 80 points per outing to opponents. 
• Despite missing action on Monday, Alek West (Sylvania, Ohio) still leads ODU in points (15.6), rebounds (4.8) and assists (5.6) per game. 
• Marks has now scored in double figures in five consecutive games and is averaging 12.5 points and 3.0 assists per game. 
• Szul has reached 10-plus points in four outings this winter and is coming off a 2020-21 campaign that saw him receive G-MAC Freshman of the Year honors.
• Fresh faces in Max Stepaniak (Ross, Ohio) and Marcus Johnson (Columbus, Ohio) are both averaging over nine points and four rebounds per contest.
• Stepaniak scored the go-ahead basket with 30 seconds remaining against Wilberforce and is fourth in the conference with 1.3 blocked shots per game.
• Arius Jones (Lansing, Mich.) returned to the lineup on Monday after missing just one game and in his return, dished out a team-high eight assists. 
• In its D2 era, ODU is 3-14 vs. Ashland and 10-10 vs. Tiffin.

SCOUTING ASHLAND

• Ashland is 3-2 to start the season and will travel to Columbus Thursday to play in its first Great Midwest Athletic Conference contest.
• The Eagles and Panthers are set to renew their rivalry as AU joins the G-MAC after spending the past 26 years as a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. 
• Ashland is coming off a two-game split in Florida last week, dropping a neutral-site game to Tampa, 77-60, before defeating the host, Eckerd, 65-57. 
• The Eagles also have a home win over Wayne State and a road triumph at Gannon. 
• Ashland ranks 11th in the G-MAC in scoring offense, 67.4 points per game, but are second in the conference in scoring defense, 69.0. 
• The Eagles lead the G-MAC with 9.4 steals per game, while also holding opponents to a .232 three-point shooting clip, ranking fifth-best nationally. 

SCOUTING TIFFIN

• Tiffin has played just three games this winter and enter the first weekend of Great Midwest play with a 1-2 record.
• The Dragons last played on Nov. 20, a 91-79 home win over Kentucky State. 
• Tiffin was selected last in the preseason G-MAC coaches poll and is coming off a 5-14 season in 2020-21.
• This season, Tiffin is averaging and conceding 81.0 points per game, ranking second-best offensively and 10th defensively in the G-MAC. 
• The Dragons are making over 10 three pointers per game, second most in the conference and 24th nationally.
• Tiffin's .829 free throw percentage is also top 10 across Division II. 
• Defensively, TU is also leading the conference with 16.3 forced turnovers per game.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu