BOX SCORE
ADA, Ohio – A 33-20 advantage in bench points helped #14 Capital outlast homestanding Ohio Northern, 68-64 in Ohio Athletic Conference men’s basketball action on Saturday.
With the win, the Crusaders (20-3, 13-3 OAC) secured their second-straight 20-win season and 12th overall in 99 seasons of varsity basketball. CU also remained in second place in the OAC standings, just one game behind John Carroll, with two games remaining on the schedule. Saturday’s win also ensures that the Crusaders would hold the tiebreaker over the Blue Streaks if the two teams were to finish the season with identical conference records.
Senior All-America candidate Nate Stahl (St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry HS) tallied a game-high 19 points while connecting on 5-of-9 shots from three-point range with three steals, three rebounds and two assists in a winning effort. However, it was the bench trio of Casey Brown (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Ready HS), Adam Johns (St. Mary’s, Ohio/St. Mary’s Memorial HS) and Jake Fanning (Danbury, Ohio/Danbury HS) that proved to be the difference for the Crusaders.
Brown finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists on the afternoon. He made 7-of-9 shots from the floor while playing 28 minutes in the post.
Johns made 4-of-5 shots from the free throw line to score nine points of his own. The junior added two rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes of action.
Fanning was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 16 seconds as Capital finished 15-of-19 from the stripe overall. He added one assist and one steal in 15 minutes of action off the bench.
CU made 23-of-50 shots overall as a team including 7-of-17 from long range while securing a 31-30 edge in rebounding and a 10-7 lead in second-chance points.
Capital came out of the gate with a 10-2 run to begin the game capped by a trey from Nate Stahl off a feed from Jamie Yoder with 13:43 left in the first half. After ONU countered with two free throws, Stahl drilled another three on the next trip down the court for CU off another pass by Yoder to stretch the lead to nine at 13-4.
The Crusader advantage would get to as many as 15 when Adam Johns made two free throws with 3:33 left in the first half, but a late surge by Polar Bears sent the two teams into the locker room at halftime with CU on top 34-26.
ONU carried its momentum into the second half as Ezra Bradshaw drilled a jumper from long range just 31 seconds into the period to make it a five-point game at 34-29. Ohio Northern pulled to within one at 18:01 and then eventually take its first lead of the contest on a pair of free throws by Kyle Meyer with 16:19 left at 39-38.
After a turnover by each side, Adam Johns would regain the advantage for Capital with a three-pointer at the 15:38 mark. That shot would ignite the CU bench as the Crusaders went on a 10-0 run over the next 2:31 behind a pair of baskets from Brown and a trey by Fanning as Capital built a 48-39 lead.
The Polar Bears would battle their way back into the game again as they got as close as one with 6:33 left before the Crusaders would respond with a jumper by sophomore D.J. Frazier. Stahl followed with a three-pointer on a fast break and Frazier drilled two shots from the free throw line to give Capital what looked like a comfortable 61-53 advantage with 2:50 left.
Bradshaw would score seven straight points over the next 1:45 to make it a 61-60 lead for Capital with 75 seconds left. On the next CU offensive possession, Brown put back his own miss in the paint with 44 seconds on the clock to give the Crusaders a four-point edge. From there Capital went 5-of-6 from the stripe down the stretch including a perfect 4-of-4 for Fanning in the final 16 seconds to secure a 68-64 victory.
The Crusaders will resume play on Wednesday at Heidelberg beginning at 7:30 p.m.