Men's Basketball sees OAC Tournament run end in semifinals with 63-58 loss to No. 11 Capital

Kyle Meyer

By Tim Glon

| Box Score | 

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS -- Ohio Northern saw its Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament run come to an end in the semifinal round as No. 11-ranked Capital knocked off ONU 63-58 Friday night at John Carroll's DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The third-seeded Polar Bears end their season with an 18-9 record, while the second-seeded Crusaders advance to the finals with a 24-3 mark.

Capital will now play the winner of  the second semifinal game Friday night between top-seeded John Carroll and fifth-seeded Muskingum.

Kyle Meyer scored 20 points to lead the Ohio Northern. Ezra Bradshaw added nine points, Sam Bastian had eight points for ONU.

The Crusaders were led by Nate Stahl and Quintin Mitchell with 14 points each.

Northern struggled shooting the ball from the perimeter, making just 1 of 17 three-pointers for 5.9 percent and only 23 of 57 of its shots overall for 40 percent.

ONU hit on 22 of 40 of its shot inside the three-point arc, including 14 of 18 in the second half, and ended the game with 42 of its 58 points in the paint.

Capital was 20 of 45 from the floor for 44 percent.

"We got good looks from the outside, we just couldn't knock them down," ONU head coach Jeff Coleman said. "Give Capital credit, they played well. It's not like we're not a good team. I thought we played hard and I was proud of our effort. It just wasn't meant to be."

The Polar Bears got off to a slow start, making only 2 of its first nine shots and committing thre turnovers in the first seven minutes as Capital took a quick 13-4 lead.

Northern used a 10-3 run to pull within 16-14 at the 9:42 mark of the first half, but the Crusaders would score the game's nexteight points to go up 24-14 with 7:09 left in the half.

Back-to-back baskets by Sean Whitney pulled ONU within 24-18 at the 5:24 mark. A pair of free throws and a 3-pointer by Stahl extended CU's advantage to 29-18 with 3:31 left in the half.

The Crusaders led 32-22 at intermission.

Capital got six quick points to start the second half from Mitchell to extends its lead to 38-24, but Northern responded with a 6-0 run to pull within 38-30 at the 16:21 mark.

Northern got its running game going and went on an 8-2 runscoring all four baskets in the paint, to make it 45-41 with 9:36 remaining.

CU exteneded its lead to 52-43 when the Polar Bears went on an 8-0 run, highlighted by a Sam Bastian fast-break dunk off a steal by Ezra Bradshaw, to pull within 52-51 with 4:46 left to play.

A pair of layups by D.J. Frazier put CU up 58-53 but a three-point play inn traffic by Bradshaw made it 58-56 with 1:55 left.

Mitchell got loose for a layup with 50.9 seconds left to make it 60-56 and the Crusaders got the ball back when Bradshaw was called for a change with 40.2 ticks left.

After Jake Fanning made one of two free throws, Meyer got a putback with 14 seconds left to trim the deficit to 61-58.

Ryan Wood missed two free throws with 9.9 seconds left to give ONU a chance to tie the game, by Frazier intercepted an errant pass and made a pair of free throws with 3.8seconds leftto seal the victory.