NCAC TOURNAMENT SITE
GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College Lords basketball team takes on the difficult challenge of facing the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops on their home court in tonight's first-round of the eight-team North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. in OWU's Branch Rickey Arena.
Ohio Wesleyan, previously ranked as the No. 18 team in the country, has lost three of its last six games. The Battling Bishops are the tournament's No. 4 seed and own a 19-6 overall record and a 13-5 NCAC record. At home, they are 8-3. Kenyon will make the short trip west and carry with it a 12-13 overall record, a 9-9 conference mark, and the tournament's No. 5 seed. The Lords are coming off a 75-64 win over Wabash, but that was just their second win in their last six games.
The task is not an impossible one for Kenyon. In fact, earlier this month the Lords had Ohio Wesleyan, then ranked No. 13 in the nation, on the ropes. At home, the Lords led the Battling Bishops for nearly the entire game. A desperation three-pointer that found its mark with just six seconds to play allowed Ohio Wesleyan to avoid the upset and claim a 68-65 victory. In the teams' only other meeting this season, which took place back in late November, Ohio Wesleyan chalked up a 78-60 win.
Overall, these two teams have squared off 101 times since first meeting in the 1905-06 season. Ohio Wesleyan holds a rather convincing 74-27 record in those games. Since both institutions began NCAC play in the 1984-85 season, they've met eight times in the postseason. The Battling Bishops won six of those games, including last season's 77-64 semifinal win.
Kenyon relies heavily on its senior class. The trio of
Brian Lebowitz,
Ikenna Nwadibia, and
Julian Pavlin account for the Lords' top-three scorers, top two rebounders, and top two assist leaders. Nwadibia, a slashing small forward, checks into tonight's game with a team-best scoring average of 15.3 points per game. He also owns a team-best average of 8.8 rebounds per contest and he's chalked up 11 double-doubles on the season.
Lately, it's been Lebowitz, another frontcourt player, who has posted the most impressive numbers for Kenyon. Over the last six games, he's averaged 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. On the season, his averages are 14.9 points and 8.6 boards. Lebowitz is also a record-setter. With six blocks in the Lords' last game, he became the Lords' all-time leader with 162 career blocks.
Pavlin, a guard, adds 10.4 points per game to the Lords' lineup. He leads the team with 59 assists and ranks second on the team with 25 steals. His outside shot needs to fall in order to keep defenses from crashing down on Nwadibia and Lebowitz.
With the help of Lebowitz's contribution, the Lords rank first in the NCAC in blocked shots (4.2 per game). They also rank second in rebounding (38.6 rpg) and fourth in steals (6.1 spg).
Ohio Wesleyan ranks second in the conference in scoring (74.2 ppg). The Battling Bishops shoot well from the floor (.448), but rank dead last in the NCAC in free throw shooting (.607). Like Kenyon, the Bishops rank highly in blocked shots (3rd, 4.0 bpg) and steals (2nd, 7.1 spg).
Reuel Rogers, a 6-7 senior post, leads the NCAC with 76 blocked shots. He also averages 13.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game for OWU. Senior guard Taylor Rieger also averages 13.0 points per game and is one of four Ohio Wesleyan players with 30 or more three-pointers on the season. A balanced team, Ohio Wesleyan also has three other double-digit scorers in Claude Gray (12.6 ppg), Seth Clark (11.1 ppg), and Dre White (11.0 ppg).
As mandated by the NCAC, ticket prices for tournament games are $7 for adults, or $5 with an NCAC guest pass, and $5 for children (18 and under) or students. Students bearing an ID from an NCAC institution will be admitted free of charge.
