BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a hard-fought game between the two teams at the top of the Ohio Athletic Conference men’s basketball standings, #5 Capital come from behind to beat visiting Wilmington, 77-74 on Thursday at the Capital Center.
Capital (17-1) avenged their 82-53 December 11 blemish to the Quakers (12-5, 8-3 OAC), who handed the Crusaders their lone loss of the season. The Crusaders have since reeled off 11 straight wins, and are sporting an OAC-best 10-1 record.
“This was a big game from the standpoint of positioning ourselves to win the league,” CU Head Coach Damon Goodwin said. “Wilmington is a very good basketball team. They controlled the tempo in the first half, and we were able to get it back in the second half. Even though we were behind at times, I felt that we’d be okay as long as we played unselfish and controlled the tempo, which we eventually did.”
Capital finished with a 49-25 advantage in bench points led by a career night from senior Quintin Mitchell (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Libbey HS). He posted career-highs on 21 points and 12 rebounds including two crowd-raising dunks while playing 26 minutes off the bench.
In a first half where both teams fought to establish momentum, Capital trailed at intermission 46-43. The deficit swelled to 58-51 before the Crusaders went on a 10-0 run to take the lead at 61-58 with 6:51 left in the game. The comeback was spearheaded by sophomore reserve DJ Frazier (Cincinnati, Ohio/ Withrow HS), who notched 12 points and nine rebounds for the game.
“We played a lot smarter in the second half,” said senior Ryan Wood (Pickerington, OH/ Pickerington Central HS) who scored nine points overall. “We kept (Wilmington) out of the lane and didn’t let them get open looks to shoot three pointers.”
With the scored knotted at 65 with 3:50 remaining, Mitchell scored eight straight points to put the Crusaders ahead 73-67 with 1:33 remaining.
Mitchell’s evening was highlighted by his defensive steal that was transitioned into a right-handed slam dunk with 2:50 to play to increase Capital’s lead at 70-67.
“I did not expect to play this long because of my back injury from last week, but with Wilmington coming here, I really didn’t want to lose and played as hard as I could,” said Mitchell, who was 6-for-8 from the floor and 9-of-12 from the free throw line. “I brought a lot of intensity to the floor tonight. Our coaches stress fundamentals, so we got after the rebounds which led to offensive points.”
Free throws and tenacious defense in the closing minutes sealed the team’s ninth home win in nine outings this season.
Senior Nate Stahl (St. Henry, OH/St Henry HS) was one of the stalwarts on a defense that limited the Quakers to 28 second half points on 9-for-31 shooting (.290).
“He’s an All-American for a number of reasons,” Goodwin said. “He did a great job on (Wilmington’s) big scorers and got some key rebounds for us.”
Stahl’s seven rebounds added to Capital’s 44-29 advantage on the glass. CU also had a 16-10 lead in second chance points.
A telling advantage for Capital came on the free throw line. The Crusaders outscored the Quakers 32-16 from the charity stripe on 41 attempts (78 percent). Capital scored 20 of their 34 second half points from free throw conversions.
Aside from his stellar defense, Stahl was one of three Crusaders in double figures, with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Senior Jamie Yoder (West Holmes, Ohio/Wooster HS) was another key reserve, scoring eight points, including going 5-for-6 from the stripe.
Capital returns to action at John Carroll University Saturday at 2pm. Capital defeated the Blue Streaks 81-75 on December 13 in Columbus during their previous matchup this season.