BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Capital University's men's basketball team erased a 14-point second half deficit and rallied to a 73-62 victory over Wittenberg University Tuesday at The Capital Center.
Senior forward Casey Brown (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Ready HS) tallied a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to lead the Crusaders. Senior wing Nate Stahl (St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry HS) chipped in with a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds and senior guard Ryan Wood (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central HS) added 11 points.
Wittenberg used a 15-4 run over the closing minutes of the first half to take control of the contest and led 37-25 at intermission. Capital answered in the first 3:16 of the second half, as senior forward Ross Niekamp (St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry HS) scored all seven of his points in that span and Wood tacked on a layup to cut the Wittenberg lead to 44-37.
The Tigers, though, came back with seven straight points of their own to push their advantage back to 14 at 48-34 at the 14:02 mark. Capital's defense then limited Wittenberg to just two points over the next six minutes, and a Stahl jump shot brought Capital to within a point at 50-49.
Capital tied the game at 52 on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard D.J. Frazier (Cinicnnati, Ohio/Withrow HS), and Frazier would score four more points to put the Crusaders in from 56-54 with 5:50 left.
Wittenberg tied the score at 59 with 3:38 remaining on a three-pointer by Chris Sullivan, but the Crusaders answered with a decisive 9-0 run over the next two and a half minutes, finished off with an offensive rebound and putback by Stahl.
Capital outscored Wittenberg 48-25 in the second half, as the Crusaders connected on 14-of-25 shots (56 percent) as opposed to just 7-of-33 shooting (21.2 percent) for the Tigers. For the game, Capital held a 48-39 edge in rebounding, as Frazier also grabbed eight rebounds and senior forward Quintin Mitchell (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey HS) added seven points and five rebounds off the bench.
The Crusaders (3-0) return to the court at 4 p.m. Sunday as Capital takes on Denison University. The game will be broadcast live on www.capitalcrusaders.net starting at 3:50 p.m.