COLUMBUS - With two weeks left to go in the regular season, the Ohio Dominican Panthers men's basketball team will split the second to last week between Sunbury Road and Midland, Michigan. 

The Panthers will host the Lake Erie Storm on Thursday (Feb. 16) at 7:30 PM before heading North to Michigan to play the Northwood Timberwolves on Saturday (Feb. 18) at 1:00 PM. 

GAME NOTES (PDF)

OPENING TIPOFF

• Ohio Dominican split last week's home series with an 81-73 win over Malone and then, an 83-64 loss to Ashland. 
• With four games remaining on the 2022-23 docket, ODU sits at 8-15 overall and 4-12 in conference play. The Panthers surpassed their win totals for the previous three seasons with their eighth win. 
• Over the course of both games, the Panthers had four players in double figures for each contest. 
• Zach Szul (Waterville, Ohio) reached a career milestone on Saturday, a part of a busy weekend on the court. Szul averaged 23.0 points and five rebounds per game after a 32-point, eight-rebound effort against Malone. He has eight games of 20+ points and two of 30+ points (both against Malone). In 16 conference games, Szul is scoring 17.7 points per game (3rd in the G-MAC) and has made 75-of-83 free throws (90.4% - best in the league). With 80 free throws (of 97 attempts), he ranks 6th in the D2 era for free throws made. Szul became the 27th player in the 1,000 point club after hitting a pair of free throws with 5:57 left on Saturday. He is the third straight player to hit 1,000 points as a junior (Hasan Varence and Sam Hickey - 1/19/19).
• Sean Marks (Delaware, Ohio) was eight-of-ten overall and five-of-seven from deep with back-to-back 11 point games last week. 
• Keshawn Heard (Newark, Ohio) averaged 9.5 points with a best of ten points against Ashland while Ethan Haynes (Florence, Kentucky) added 11 points vs. Ashland for 9.0 points per game.
• Jarius Jones (Gahanna, Ohio) finished last week with a stat line of 8.5 points, seven rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. 
• Marcus Johnson (Columbus, Ohio) came off the bench with eight points per game after scoring ten points against Malone - his third double-digit effort in relief. 
• In 14 games at Alumni Hall, Ohio Dominican is 7-7 overall and scoring 70.1 points per game. The Panthers are shooting .423 overall and .338 from deep. On the road, Ohio Dominican is 1-8 with 58.3 points per game. Away from Sunbury Road, ODU is shooting .352 overall and .270 from three-point land. 
• Ohio Dominican made ten threes in each game last week, giving them nine games with double-digit makes beyond the arc this season. Against Malone, ODU shot 50%, the first time since February 20, 2021 against Lake Erie. 
• This will be the 26th matchup in the Division II series history (dating back to 2010-11) between ODU and Lake Erie. Ohio Dominican is 13-12 against the Storm overall. The Panthers have won five straight games on Sunbury Road vs. LEC. Lake Erie won the first matchup last December in overtime, 76-69. 
• After the Panthers took the first meeting in six years back in December 61-49, Northwood leads the series 5-3 after Ohio Dominican has taken the last three contests. The Timberwolves are 3-0 at Riepma Arena against ODU. 

ABOUT THE STORM

• Lake Erie is 13-10 overall and 10-7 in the conference as they are competing for a quarterfinal home game in the G-MAC tournament. 
• Since playing ODU back in December, the Storm are 8-5. After winning a season-best four straight games from 1/21 to 2/2, the Storm have gone 1-2 on the road. Lake Erie defeated Northwood while falling to Ashland and Hillsdale. 
• Lake Erie has played in a league-high four overtime games, going 1-3 in those games. 
• Jonny Manning leads the Storm in points, rebounds and blocks. The sophomore tallies 13.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for Lake Erie. Manning has scored 20+ points in five games with six double-doubles this season. He is 7th in the G-MAC in rebounding and fourth in blocks. Manning is shooting .539 from the floor. 
• Jacob Plantz and Jordan Burge are averaging at least ten points for the Storm, tallying 12.3 and 10.2 points, respectively. Plantz is in a tie for the team lead with 33 threes and leads the group with 1.2 steals. 
• PJ Jones is scoring nine points per game with 3.6 assists. Jones is 7th in February with 3.75 assists and 6th in assist/turnover ratio (3.00) among G-MAC players. 
• Lake Erie averages 72.0 points scored, 34.3 rebounds, and is shooting .434 overall (.319 from deep). The opposition is scoring 71.0 points per game, grabbing 36.3 rebounds and holding a .445 clip shooting (.359 from three). 

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES

• Northwood begins the penultimate week of the regular season 2-23 overall and 2-15 in the conference before heading to Tiffin on Thursday. 
• The Timberwolves have picked up two wins over Trevecca Nazarene (12/1 & 1/19), breaking up losing streaks of six and ten. Northwood is on a current losing streak of seven games. 
   
• Savon Wykle leads the Timberwolves with 11.1 points per game in 20 games played (17 starts). 
• Will Young Jr. is second on the team with 8.2 points. Young Jr. holds the top spot in 23 three pointers. 
• Kyle Jackson and Anthony Sanders both have averages of 7.1 points per game as Sanders has played 22 games compared to Jackson's seven contests. Sanders is 6th in the conference with 1.3 steals. 
• De'Airrus Ware averages 4.5 rebounds per game and has blocked 41 shots in 24 games. He has 6.5 points per game. 
• Northwood averages 55.6 points scored, 30.0 rebounds on offense and is shooting .392 overall (.252 from deep). The opposition is scoring 75.2 points per game, grabbing 39.9 rebounds and holding a .468 clip shooting (.319 from three). 
• Northwood rank 12th (of 12 teams) in the G-MAC for scoring offense, scoring margin, three point %, rebounding offense, rebounding defense, assists, assist/turnover ratio, and threes made. 
• They are in the bottom five in Division II for assist/turnover ratio, assists, free throws made, rebound margin, scoring offense, three pointers and three point percentage. 
   

UP NEXT

The Panthers will host the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers for Senior Day and the home finale on Thursday, February 23rd. 

Contact: Tyler Stotsky
stotskyt@ohiodominican.edu