Men's Basketball returns home to the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium for the first time since Jan. 11, hosting the second Heart match-up with Park University at 2 p.m. Saturday. 

Benedictine leads the conference series with Park as the Pirates make the return trip back to Ralph Nolan Gymnasium for the second meeting of the season. Benedictine earned a 64-63 win over Park back on Dec. 14 to improve to 11-6 under head coach Ryan Moody against the Pirates.

In conference games, Benedictine leads the Heart in 3-pointers with 133 – 12 better than Peru State. The Ravens are shooting 40.2 percent in their 13 conference games, which is also the top mark. Overall, they have 180 3-pointers, second most in the Heart while they're shooting 38.1 percent. 

Heading into their meeting with Park, Benedictine is 6-2 in games decided by 5 points or less – only one of those two losses has come in Heart play and was against Graceland back on Dec. 6. Under Coach Moody, the Ravens are 61-53 in games decided by 5 or less.

Park's Lucas Kroft is fourth in the Heart in scoring. In 12 games, he is averaging 18.9 points while shooting 49.4 percent from the floor with 21 3-pointers. 

Benedictine is ranked second in the Heart in field goal percentage at 42.1 percent and 3-point percentage at 38.1 percent. So far this season, 37.5 percent of the Ravens total field goals are 3-pointers. 

Through 19 games, the Ravens are averaging 70.9 points per game. They have surpassed 70 points 9 times this season and are 7-2 in those games. The two losses have also been two of their three highest-scoring games of the season – 95-86 on Thursday to Baker, 93-85 on Jan. 11 to Evangel

Benedictine is 4-2 so far in January. They have averaged 79.8 points while shooting 51.4 percent from the floor and 45.2 percent from beyond the arc with 66 3-pointers. 

Since the calendar turned to 2023, Benedictine's Sam Ungashick has hit another gear. He leads the team in scoring at 16.8 points and is shooting 63.6 percent from the floor and 61.9 percent from beyond the arc.

The Pirates are second in the Heart in free throw percentage at 75.1 percent, hitting 263 of 350. In their 13 Heart game, that number drops to 73.8 percent at 180 of 244.

Up Next: Benedictine returns to the road, traveling to Fayette, Mo., for a 7:30 p.m. game on Wednesday with Central Methodist University. They will return home on Jan. 28 for Alumni Day and our Suits & Sneakers Game against MNU at 4 p.m. Fans are encouraged to get "Dressed to the Nines" in support of the Suits & Sneakers event. 

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