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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Dominican men's basketball team concludes the 2021-22 season this week by hosting Walsh and traveling to Malone.

The Panthers welcome Walsh at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 24. ODU then travels north to Canton, Ohio for a 3 p.m. tip-off at Malone on Saturday, Feb. 26.

OPENING TIP-OFF

• Ohio Dominican closes out its home slate Thursday night versus Walsh, the Cavaliers first trip to Columbus since Dec. 16, 2019. 
• The Panthers will then end the regular season on the road for the second straight year, its first time since the end of the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.
• ODU will honor its lone senior Thursday night, Caleb Strohmeier (Edwardsville, Ill.).
• Strohmeier has played in 71 games during his time with ODU, shooting 49.1 percent from the field.
• Alek West (Sylvania, Ohio) continues to pace the Panthers statistically, averaging 15.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game.  
• West tied the program Division II record with 12 assists in the first meeting with Malone this season.
• Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) is averaging 13.5 points per game to rank second on the team and is coming off a 16-point performance at Cedarville last weekend.
• With untimely injuries piling up for the program, ODU has had several players step up in the scoring column, including Nate Webb (Lafayette, Ind.), who is averaging 10.3 points over the past four games.
• Both Brandon Gibson II (Dayton, Ohio) and Mike Knoll (Medina, Ohio) produced a double-digit scoring effort last week against Cedarville. 

ABOUT WALSH

• Walsh enters the final weekend of the regular season in first place in the G-MAC standings and will be looking for its first regular season G-MAC championship.
• Entering Thursday, the Cavaliers (19-6, 14-4 G-MAC) hold a one-game advantage on both Hillsdale and Ashland, and a two-game lead on Malone in the conference standings.
• Walsh is third in the G-MAC in both scoring offense (78.1) and defense (68.2), while their average scoring margin of 9.9 points per game leads the conference and ranks top 35 nationally. 
• Walsh is 7-4 on the road this year, but is averaging nearly seven points fewer (71.6) per game in away games.
• Garrison Keeslar leads Walsh in the main three statistical categories with 14.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. 
• Darryl Straughter is prodcuing 14.7 points per game and has 2,069 career points, ranking fourth among active Division II players.
• Caleb Canter (11.0) and Tim Smith Jr. (10.5) are also scoring in double figures for the Cavaliers.

ABOUT MALONE

• Malone is 17-8 overall and 12-6 in G-MAC play and has an outside shot of sharing a regular season conference title heading into the final weekend of action.
• With two games remaining in the regular season, Malone is two games back from conference-leading Walsh, and one game back from second place, which is shared by Ashland and Hillsdale. 
• The Pioneers 11-2 at home this winter, but are coming off back-to-back home losses to G-MAC Tournament qualifiers, Ashland and Findlay. 
• Malone has the G-MAC's top offense, averaging 80.8 points per game, and are shooting 46.4 percent from the field as a team. 
• The Pioneers have two of the top five scorers in the G-MAC in Bryce Butler and Bo Myers. 
• Butler leads the team at 18.0 points per game, while adding 4.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per outing. 
• Myers has three games with 30-plus points and is recording 16.5 points per game this season. 
• Marcus Ernst is averaging a double-double, 13.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. 

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu