Review: Youth propels Men's Basketball to another solid season full of memorable moments
ADA — The Ohio Northern men’s basketball program posted another solid season in 2010-11 under second-year head coach John Rhodes.
The Polar Bears registered their 17th consecutive upper division finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference, claiming fourth place with a 10-8 record. The team was preseason ranked to finish seventh in the league.
Junior Scott Schnelle was named a First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference honoree after leading the Polar Bears in scoring at 14.9 points per game and in rebounding at 7.8 rebounds per game.
Schnelle also led the team in field goal shooting at 59 percent and in blocks with 40, and was tied for first with 55 assists.
He also was the lone Polar Bear to earn OAC player of the week this season, and was named Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference for the second consecutive season.
Freshman Branden Rushton was named Honorable Mention All-Ohio Athletic Conference this season. He was second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.4 ppg.
Rushton was third on the team in assists with 39, and second in free throw shooting at 76.1 percent.
Fellow freshman Joe Staley was third on the team in scoring, averaging 11.1 ppg, and second in rebounding with 5.8 rpg.
The Polar Bears, despite having no seniors on the team, managed to end the year 13-13 overall, but five of its losses were by five points or less.
Northern started the season with a thrilling 93-90 double overtime win over Defiance at the ONU Sportscenter. The next game saw the Polar Bears drop 67-53 contest to No. 6 ranked Wooster at the Carnegie Mellon Tournament in Pittsburgh.
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The Polar Bears reeled off three straight wins in December including a 68-66 upset of No. 17 John Carroll in University Heights and a 73-63 win over Baldwin-Wallace to move to 3-1 in the OAC.
The rest of December and January were unkind to Northern as they went 3-8 after beating Baldwin-Wallace.
The Polar Bears came on strong in February with a 72-65 win over Capital. After a loss to then No. 20 ranked Marietta, the Polar Bears won four-straight games to propel them into the OAC Tournament.
One of those games included another exciting win against the Yellow Jackets in Berea, in which Schnelle barely missed his first triple-double of the season with a season-high 36 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks.
In the quarterfinals of the OAC Tournament, Northern hosted rival Heidelberg. Similar to the first game of the season, the Polar Bears pushed Heidelberg into double overtime only to see the Student Princes claim an 80-77 win.
Schnelle posted seven double-doubles including two straight to end the season and finished the season with 81 blocked shots, placing him fourth all-time in the category in the program’s history. Five freshmen saw extended playing time this season.