Men's Basketball advances to OAC Tournament

The Muskingum men's basketball team advanced to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament as the eight-seed following its season finale setback at Ohio Northern, 79-63. The OAC Tournament is slated to begin on Tuesday, February 19 with the Muskies traveling to Columbus to take on the Capital Crusaders. Game time is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

• Sophomore Mitch Clark led the Muskies in scoring with 10 points, shooting 5-for-10 from the field.
• Freshman Trey Singleton cashed in 10 points and collected eight rebounds.
• Senior Devon Peart tallied nine points and three steals.
• Freshman Carson Carter added nine points, hitting 60.0% of his shots from the field (3-of-5).
• As a team, the Muskies went 20-for-57 (35.1%) from the field and 8-for-28 from the arc (28.6%).
• Ryan Bruns guided the Polar Bears in scoring with 33 points, while Caleb Bryan put up 26 points.
• Ohio Northern made 50.0% of their shots (33-for-66), went 6-for-20 from the arc (30.0%), and ended the contest shooting 7-for-10 from the free-throw line (70.0%).

• The teams were neck-and-neck through the opening minutes of play, with neither squad leading by more than five points. Then at the 10:19 mark, Bruns sank a jumper and ignited an 8-0 burst to give the Polar Bears a 10-point advantage (26-16). Ohio Northern maintained a steady lead through the rest of the first half, entering the break up 44-35 against the Muskies.

• Ohio Northern came out firing in the second half, using a 13-4 span to gain a powerful 18-point lead (57-39) with 13 minutes left on the clock. The Polar Bears rode this momentum through the final minutes of play en route to the home win. 

• Muskingum next travels to Capital for the opening round of the OAC Tournament on Tuesday, February 19. Game time is slated for 8:00 p.m.