COLUMBUS, Ohio - To close out 2023, the Ohio Dominican Panthers men's basketball team will host the Thomas More Saints to kick off a three-game home stand in the next six days - all conference contests. 

Ohio Dominican and Thomas More will meet on Sunbury Road on Saturday (Dec. 30) at 1:00 PM in a Great Midwest contest. 

OPENING TIPOFF

• Ohio Dominican saw their two-game winning streak snapped in a 66-61 loss at Salem on December 19th before the holiday break. 
• Sean McKitrick (Dayton, Ohio) rose to the occasion at Salem, scoring a career-high 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting with five three pointers. So far in the month of December, he has scored 20.4 points per game with a .486 field goal percentage and 16 three pointers. 
  • McKitrick's 33 point contest is tied for the third best scoring game in the Division II era, sixth in the program history and the best game by a freshman in the D2 era. 
  • He is seventh in the G-MAC with 16.4 points per game and eighth in three point percentage. 
• JeJuan Weatherspoon (Columbus, Ohio) holds the team lead in scoring, rebounding and blocks. He is scoring 16.9 points per game with 10.4 rebounds. His rebounding totals lead the G-MAC along with his 7.9 defensive rebounds per game. He has missed the last three games due to injury. 
• Luke Ruth (Grove City, Ohio) has averaged 15.0 points per game in December with 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals. Ruth scored 12 points with eight rebounds at Salem and has double-digit scoring in six straight games. For the season, he's carrying a stat line of 12.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists. 
• Caleb Brooks (Florence, Kentucky) had 12 points and eight rebounds in the last contest and is scoring 12.6 points in December with 5.2 rebounds. Overall, he's averaging 18.8 points in his four starts and 13.4 points across nine games with 5.2 rebounds. 
• Zac Kimball (Sydney, Australia) is grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game in December and 5.1 per game for the season.
• Since Thomas More joined NCAA Division II this season, this is the first matchup between Thomas More and ODU as both members in the NCAA Division II. These two teams battled eight times from 1981-2000 with Thomas More leading the series 6-2. 
• After an 0-2 start inside of Alumni Hall this season, the Panthers have won three straight games at home. This is the first time since February 2020. 
• The Panthers are one of two teams in the G-MAC with at least two different players scoring 30+ plus points in a game this season (Cedarville - 3). 

SCOUTING THE SAINTS

• Thomas More is 8-4 overall and 3-1 within the G-MAC for the first season as an active D2 members (provisionally). 
• The Saints are 4-0 against non NCAA D2 teams this season, including home wins over Cincinnati-Clermont (84-66), Kent State Tuscarawas (92-46), Miami-Middletown (99-46) and Miami-Hamilton (62-49). 
• Three of the four NCAA victories have come in conference play against Northwood, #8 Ashland and the defending G-MAC regular season champions Walsh. 
• Prior to break, the Saints have won two straight games against Walsh and Miami-Hamilton. 
• Reid Jolly leads the Saints with 14.9 points per game and 6.5 rebounds. 
• Jacob Jones has 10.9 points and 4.8 assists per game as he slots 3rd in the G-MAC to this point. His 2.0 assist/turnover ratio is 7th among the G-MAC competitors and he paces the Saints with 12 steals (1.0 per game). 
• Nathan Dudukovich is the third player in double figures with 10.8 points and has a team-high 32 three pointers. 
• Wyatt Vieth and Kyle Ross average 9.0 and 8.7 points per game, respectively. 
• The Saints score 74.8 points while allowing 63.3 per game. They have a field goal % of 46.0% and shooting 38.6% from deep. On defense, the Saints are allowing teams to shoot 44.0% overall and 30.3% from around the arc.