COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Dominican Panthers men's basketball team will split the week between the capital city of Columbus and the state of Michigan for this week's slate of G-MAC action. The Panthers will host the Lake Erie College Storm on Thursday (Jan. 18) at 7:30 PM before heading to Midland, Michigan on Saturday (Jan. 20) for a road contest with the Northwood Timberwolves.

Saturday's road game will be the last road game until mid-February as Ohio Dominican will host four straight home games starting next Thursday (Jan. 25). 

OPENING TIPOFF

• Ohio Dominican will face two teams in the bottom half of the G-MAC standings as the Panthers will split the week at home and on the road. They will host Lake Erie on Thursday and travel to Northwood on Saturday.
• The Panthers played at Walsh last Saturday, falling 72-30 at Alumni Arena. With 13 games to go, Ohio Dominican is now 3-11 overall and 0-7 in the G-MAC with five straight defeats.
• Luke Ruth (Grove City, Ohio) now has ten games of at least ten points (11 total) after scoring ten points at Walsh. As a freshman with 14 games played, Ruth has 13.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He is averaging 14.6 points in conference games and is scoring 15.0 points per contest in the month of January. Ruth also has 1.6 steals per game in January (3rd in G-MAC).
• Sean McKitrick (Dayton, Ohio) led ODU with 14 points at Walsh, his tenth straight game in double-figures.He is tied for tenth in the conference in January for scoring, tallying 16.0 points per game. In 14 games, he is fifth in three pointers per game (2.3 3/G), eighth in scoring (16.1 PPG) and ninth in three point % (.327).
• Parker Swartz (Grand Rapids, Michigan) had four points and four rebounds at Walsh in his first career start. He is averaging 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in January.
• Lachlan MacDonald (Dublin, Ohio) has started back-to-back games with 4.5 points and 4.5 rebounds coming in those two starts.
• Nate Webb (Lafayette, Indiana), the elder statesman of the starting lineup, is averaging 4.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and has 11 threes (tied for second most on the team). With a younger starting lineup, Webb has appeared in 71 career games with the other four players combining for 51 games (all coming this year).
• Eli Meyer (Seymour, Indiana) and Christian Lee (Birmingham, Alabama) made their Panther debuts at Walsh with four and three rebounds, respectively.
• The Panthers have the fifth best field goal percentage defense in the G-MAC (43.3) and rank fifth in the same category among conference games (43.0).
• This will be the 27th matchup in the Division II series history (dating back to 2010-11) between ODU and Lake Erie. The Panthers and the Storm are tied 13-13. The Storm swept the 2022-23 season series and have won three straight matchups in the series.
• Northwood leads the series 5-4 after Ohio Dominican has taken the last four contests, including a sweep of the Timbies last season. After a 0-3 start at Riepma Arena, ODU is looking for a second straight win in Midland, Michigan. 

SCOUTING THE STORM

• Lake Erie makes an appearance on Sunbury Road with a 4-12 record and 2-5 mark in the G-MAC.
• Following 14 overall wins and an 11-9 G-MAC record a season ago, the Storm have gathered two wins in non-conference play over Clarion (75-59) and Thiel (88-70), both at home.
• They picked up two road wins in the G-MAC at Malone (74-69) and at Findlay (80-67).
• Jonny Manning is one of two Storm players in double figures. Manning leads the Storm with 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He has a league-high six double-doubles and also has five games of at least 20-points. His 7.7 rebounds are the fourth best mark in the G-MAC.
• Jacob Plantz joins Manning in double figures with 13.3 points per game.
• Leon Hughes scores 9.2 points per game with a team-high 24 three pointers and 11 blocks.
• Lake Erie is scoring 74.2 points with a .437 field goal %, a .334 three point % and .670 free throw %. On defense, the Storm are allowing 77.0 points and a shooting clip of .458 FG/.334 3P/.731 FT.
• As a team, the Storm are fourth in rebounding for the G-MAC with 36.3 rebounds per game, including 12.1 offensive rebounds (1st in the G-MAC).

SCOUTING THE TIMBERWOLVES

• Northwood will start play this week with a 3-12 overall record and 0-7 in the G-MAC. The Timberwolves will host Findlay on Thursday before the Panthers on Saturday.
• The Timbies started 2-2 for the season with non-conference wins over Grace Christian (79-70) and Great Lakes Christian (82-77). Since Nov. 22, Northwood is 1-10 over the last 11 games with the lone win coming against Davenport (86-70). Northwood is on a six-game losing streak.
  • In their last contest, Northwood battled the G-MAC leading Trevecca Nazarene Trojans and fell 78-75 in overtime.
• Collin Albert is the leader of the Timberwolves and 4th in the G-MAC with 18.0 points per game. He is tied for sixth with 33 threes and adds 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
• Jaylen Hodges scores 12.1 points per game with 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per contest. Hodges is second in the conference with takeaways. He has the highest field goal % with .484.
• Anthony Sanders has 10.3 points per game with 4.7 rebounds.
• Richard Lowe is the leading rebounder with 6.5 rebounds per game in ten games so far this season.
• Northwood is scoring 70.4 points on offense while the defense is surrendering 85.1 points. The Timberwolves are shooting .419 from the floor and a .324 three point %.