Ohio Northern junior Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year for 2018 in voting conducted by the league's 10 head coaches. ONU will play in the OAC finals at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at John Carroll.

Senior Nate Burger (Dayton/Alter) was also a First team All-OAC pick and senior Joey DiOrio (Columbus/Watterson) was an Honorable mention All-Conference selection.

Bruns is second on the team, third in the OAC and 10th nationally in scoring at 24.5 ppg. He also leads the team and the OAC with 65 blocked shots and is third in the league, averaging a team-best 8.7 rebounds per game.

He is ONU's all-time career blocked shots leader with 189. The 6-8 center leads the OAC and broke the school's single-season junior record with 65 blocked shots this season.

Bruns currently ranks 26th all-time at ONU with 1,150 career points.

Burger leads the team, is second in the OAC and is ninth nationally in scoring, averaging 25.1 ppg.

He broke ONU's single-season scoring record with 678 points.

Burger currently ranks 21st all-time at ONU with 1,189 career points.

DiOrio was also named First Team Academic All-District 7 by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The senior is currently third on the team in scoring at 12.7 points per contest and ranks second on the team with 78 made 3-point field goals.

He currently ranks 10th all-time in ONU history with 163 made three-pointers.

The Polar Bears (19-8 overall) return to action on Saturday when they travel to John Carroll for the championship game of the OAC Tournament.