BOX SCORE
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio - In one of just two matchups nationally between Top 15 programs on Saturday, the Ohio Athletic Conference men's basketball Championship Game lived up to its hype as #15 John Carroll edged #11 Capital, 90-87.
The Crusaders (24-4) will now await the NCAA Selection Shows which will be streamed live on http://www.ncaasports.com/ on Monday beginning at 11 a.m. ET to learn if it will advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the third consecutive season. John Carroll (23-4) clinched the OAC's automatic berth to the NCAA postseason.
Capital had four players reach double figures in scoring including All-Tournament selection Ryan Wood (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central HS) who led all players with 22 points. Wood was 6-for-11 from the field and scored 12 of his points in the second half of play.
Sophomore D.J. Frazier (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow HS) tallied 15 points while dishing out four assists with only one turnover. He also hit a jumper with 90 seconds left to give CU a one-point lead at 85-84, but the lead would not hold for the Crusaders.
Classmate Adam Johns (St. Mary's, Ohio/St. Mary's Memorial HS) tallied 11 of his career-high 13 points in the first half to give Capital a 50-44 lead at intermission. Overall, he connected on 4-of-6 shots from the floor while pulling down three rebounds and dishing out one assist in 13 minutes of action off the bench.
Senior All-Tournament Team pick Nate Stahl (St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry HS) finished with 10 points and three steals as part of a CU offense that shot 65.2 percent in the first half to finish with a 27-for-51 (.529) shooting effort overall.
The first half of action featured 10 tied scores until Johns hit a pair of free throws at the 5:49 mark to put the Crusaders ahead 36-35. His buckets were followed by a trey from Ben McGrath and another Johns' free throw in the next 38 seconds for a 40-35 CU advantage. A trey by Stahl and two more baskets from McGrath countered responses from JCU to give the Crusaders a 50-44 lead at halftime.
Capital would see its momentum quickly dwindle in the second half as John Carroll went on a 6-1 run over the first 1:57 following halftime to make it a one-point game at 51-50. Wood followed with a trey exactly one minute later before the Blue Streaks would finally regain the lead with a three-pointer by Tyler Kirsch and a jumper by Chris Zajac.
The advantage would grow to as much as nine at 71-62 with 10:08 left for John Carroll until Quintin Mitchell would get things going for Capital with a layup at the 9:53 mark. Stahl would follow with a pair of free throws 67 seconds later and the trio of Frazier, Mitchell and Wood each hit a basket before the 7:12 mark to make it a 75-74 CU deficit.
From there the game would be tied two more times and Capital would take the lead on the Frazier jumper with 1:30 remaining but Kirbus answered with a trey in the corner to give John Carroll the lead right back at 87-85 with 1:13 on the clock.
The Crusaders would miss a trey and two free throws down the stretch until Wood went to the line with 10 seconds on the clock and made both shots for another two-point deficit as the Blue Streaks inbounded the ball. Michael Harnott was quickly fouled and made the first shot at the stripe. He missed the second and Stahl pulled down the rebound for CU. The senior dribbled the length of the court and had a clean look at the basket, but his three-point shot glanced off the rim and fell away as time expired.