Men's Basketball looks to remain undefeated inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium at 4 p.m. Saturday as they host Heart opponent Park University.
The Matchup: Benedictine returns home for their final game of the 2021 portion of their schedule as they look to take over the Heart series lead against Park University. Last season, the first for the Pirates, the two teams split their home-and-home series with each team holding court at home. Under head coach Ryan Moody, the Ravens are 9-6 against the Pirates and Benedictine holds a 9-8 series lead over Park since 2010.
Tip-Off: The Ravens come into today's game shooting 43.2 percent from beyond the 3-point arc in four games inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium. The Pirates have held their opponents to just 28 percent 3-point shooting (second in the Heart). ... Jaiden Bristol needs just 6 more assists and he will have 600 in his career at Benedictine. In four-plus seasons with the Ravens, Bristol has averaged 4.4 assists per game. ... Benedictine has become one of the top 3-point shooting teams under head coach Ryan Moody in the NAIA. Heading into today's game, the Ravens are averaging 20.7 3-pointers per game. In 10 seasons under Coach Moody, that number has finished at or above 20 seven times. The best average under Coach Moody came during the 2018-19 season when the Ravens averaged 26.8 per game. ... Ernest Myles III leads the Heart in Offensive Rebounds per game, averaging 3.9 per game. He is also fourth in rebounds per game, averaging 9.9 per game. ... The Pirates force the most turnovers per game out of any team the Heart, at 17.9 per game. That number ranked them 11th overall in the NAIA. The Ravens average 12.2 turnovers per game, but are coming off a season-high 23 turnovers in their loss to Evangel on Wednesday. ... Nysir Scott currently leads the Heart in 3-point percentage. In 10 games this season, he is shooting 66.7 percent as he has converted 12 of 18. His percentage is also best in the NAIA by 2.0 percent over Tyler Rodrigue of Montreat. Rodrigue has made 22 of 34 in nine games.
Up Next: The meeting with the Pirates marks the end of the 2021 portion of the season for Men's Basketball. They are off from competition until January 2 when they will travel to Fayette, Mo., to take on (RV) Central Methodist University. Park continues Heart play on Dec. 15 hosting a meeting in Parkville, Mo., with the MNU Pioneers.
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