CLEVELAND, Ohio – Senior Ryan Wood cemented his claim to Most Valuable Player honors at the Case Western Reserve Tipoff Tournament with 24 points in an 87-67 Championship Game win over Monmouth on Saturday night.
Wood (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central HS), who led all players in on Friday with 18 points against Bluffton, went 6-for-8 from three-point range to help Capital beat Monmouth on Saturday. He went 8-of-13 from the floor overall and dished out three assists in only 28 minutes of action.
Fellow senior Nate Stahl (St. Mary’s, Ohio/St. Mary’s HS) matched Wood with 24 points of his own with a 10-for-20 shooting effort to go along with five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 29 minutes of play to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
Classmate Ross Niekamp (St. Mary’s, Ohio/St. Mary’s HS) was the third Crusader to be named to the All-Tournament team after a 12-point, six-rebound effort in the Championship Game. He also two assists and one steal to help Capital connect on 32-of-65 (.492) shots from the field on the night including 11-of-21 from beyond the arc..
Senior Casey Brown (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Ready HS) added eight points and a game-high eight rebounds while sophomore DJ Frazier (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow HS) scored seven points to lead a Crusader starting five that accounted for 75 of CU’s 87 points on the night.
Capital led from start to finish in a contest that saw it post a 27-13 advantage in points off turnovers and a 26-22 edge at points in the paint.
The Crusaders return home to play host to Wittenberg on Tuesday in a non-conference game at the Capital Center at 7 p.m. ET.
Case Alumni Association Rough Rider Tournament
CHAMPION: Capital
RUNNER-UP: Monmouth
MVP: Ryan Wood - Capital
All-Tournament Team
Reid Anderson - Case Western Reserve
Colt Cunningham - Bluffton
Nate Stahl - Capital
Ross Nickcamp - Capital
Eric Cogdill - Monmouth
Corey Turner - Monmouth