Live Stats | Nate Davis Dunk 1 | Nate Davis Dunk 2
TIFFIN, Ohio—The Heidelberg University men’s basketball team will look for its second straight win as it begins a four-game road trip stretching two weeks on Saturday, Jan. 7 when it faces defending Ohio Athletic Conference champion Marietta College in a league game at Fenton Court at Ban Johnson Arena in Marietta, Ohio. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.
Live stats for the game will be available http://sidearmstats.com/marietta/mbball/index.htm.
Heidelberg (4-8, 2-3 OAC) travels to Marietta on the strength of a 75-74 edging of conference rival Ohio Northern University, a win that snapped a three-game losing skid. The Berg trailed at halftime, 37-36, and led by as many as 10 points with 8:14 to play in the game, withstanding a late ONU surge to preserve the victory. Against the Polar Bears, junior honorable mention All-OAC forward Nate Davis (Dayton/Stivers) scored 16 points on six-of-10 shooting, matched a game-high with nine rebounds, tallied a career-high six blocks and had two thunderous dunks that brought the crowd to its feet. The Student Princes shot a season-high 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field and 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the charity stripe and had just 14 turnovers.
Davis was featured two weeks ago on ESPN’s SportsCenter with the No. 9 play of the day (Dec. 17) and No. 9 play of the weekend (Dec. 19) with similar style dunks. His dunks against ONU can be viewed on YouTube at the following links:
First half tip-in slam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE_QF8o1gK0&list=UUhSFWCsSLoM-ljq-A0KI3bQ&index=2&feature=plcp
Second half two-handed dunk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aOtlMrmvVQ&list=UUhSFWCsSLoM-ljq-A0KI3bQ&index=1&feature=plcp
Marietta (8-4, 3-2 OAC), ranked as high as fourth (D3hoops.com) this season, has fallen out of the national rankings after dropping three of its last five games. In the Pioneers’ last game, a 95-79 win over Grace Bible (Iowa) College (Dec. 30), Kevin Knab poured in a game-high 21 points on nine-of-10 shooting and Jacob Owens added 20 points and was six-of-11 from three point range, as Marietta shot 50.0 percent (12-of-24) from behind the arc and 52.2 (36-of-69) overall.
Last season, Heidelberg and Marietta split the regular season series and the Pioneers took a 70-55 win in Marietta in the OAC tournament semifinals. In three games in 2010-11, junior second-team All-OAC guard Dane Givner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Harvest Prep) averaged 17.3 points per game and Davis pulled down 11.7 rpg. Knab averaged 18.7 ppg. against the Student Princes a year ago. Both teams have split the last 10 games in the series, with Marietta winning the last two. The home team has won the last six games in the series.
Heidelberg averages the league’s fourth-best scoring offense at 75.8 ppg. and tallies 39.7 rpg., including 13.7 offensive rpg.—good for second in the OAC—and shoots 44.3 percent from the field collectively. The Pioneers average 75.8 ppg. —good for third in the league—and 36.7 rpg., shoot 43.9 percent from the field and 71.2 percent from the free throw line, and have the OAC’s best assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.2.
Following Saturday’s contest, the Student Princes will face OAC foe Otterbein University in Westerville on Wednesday, Jan. 11 before wrapping up their road trip at the University of Mount Union (Jan. 14) and John Carroll University (Jan. 18).
Probable Starters: Heidelberg (4-8, 2-3 OAC)
Name—GP-GS—Key Stats
Dane Givner—12-12—11.8 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 2.8 apg.
Darion Capers—12-11—14.0 ppg., 4.8 rpg., 53.2 FG%, 2.1 apg.
Victor Fortkamp—12-12—11.2 ppg., 5.2 rpg., 54.2 FG%, 78.4 FT%
Bryan Crawford—1-1—1.5 ppg., 0.6 rpg.
Nate Davis—12-12—10.8 ppg., 9.2 rpg., 56.2 FG%, 2.5 bpg.
Probable Starters: Heidelberg (4-8, 2-3 OAC)
Name—GP-GS—Key Stats
Tyler Hammond—12-12—8.5 ppg., 41.3 FG%, 2.9 apg., 1.3 spg.
Jacob Owens—12-8—6.7 ppg., 1.2 spg.
Joe Puch—12-12—4.7 ppg., 3.8 rpg., 2.0 apg.
Jason Humphrey—12-12—6.6 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 47.6 FG%
Kevin Knab—12-12—16.5 ppg., 4.8 rpg., 60.5 FG%, 77.4 FT%